The Ninja, The Artist, And The Knight
by SnivyPencil
Summary: One is a ninja who wants to get away from his previous life. One is an artist who's trying to raise his baby girl. One is a knight who wants to protect his little brother. All three have a destiny to fulfill. My first story ever to be published on the internet.
1. Chapter P

**MLP belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. All original characters belong to SnivyPencil (aka me). This is my first ever thing uploaded to the internet. Please review whether it's positive or negative.**

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Hiro's POV

The pony in the mirror, he was unrecognizable. He had on a black hood that hid his mane and cast a shadow above his eyes, preventing you from telling his eye color. The mask he wore around his mouth looked like an exotic cloth from up close but in reality, it was just an ordinary dark grey scarf. His pure black and grey robe covered his entire body, not showing a spot of his original coat color or his cutie mark. The tail and wings… you couldn't even tell he had them. He was completely hidden in the costume.

I started to remove the suit.

Even though I wore a lot of clothing, it wasn't that hard to take it all off. The long robe fell down to the floor of the bathroom. The hood went down with it and the scarf was easily just pulled off.

The pony underneath was revealed. My mopped coal black mane fell down from the hood's grasp. My black tail waved around a little, probably glad that it finally got some fresh air. I glared at the small sweat drops on my eggshell white coat, the robe causing all of this. I turn around to see more sweat drops right on my cutie mark of three ninja stars stacked together like a pyramid. It always does get a little hot under the costume. Then I just looked straight at the eyes in the mirror, slowly being hypnotized by the green eyes staring back at me.

I let out a sigh.

I brushed my teeth and went to go get dressed. I pulled out a black hooded sweater and black pants from my dresser and put them on. Ponies always asked me why I wear them when it's a sunny day. I tell them I feel comfortable wearing it. While that's partly true, I also wear them to hide my cutie mark. With a pony like the Lunar Ninja out there kicking flanks, I'll probably be suspected as being him since… you know… the three ninja stars on my flank.

Last night was probably going to be the very last night the Lunar Ninja will ever be in Manehattan. Because today was the day he moves from the city, to a nice peaceful town. Or… at least he hopes it's going to be peaceful. Now the Lunar Ninja can't make any promises since for some reason trouble just loves to follow him, so he better prepare an apology for Hiro if anything bad happens.

There's still a box left for me to get. After that it's goodbye Manehattan and hello Ponyville.

I took a deep breath. Today is the day… that was all I was saying as I threw my final box into the moving wagon.

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Tag's POV

It all happened back in high school. There was this girl in my art class. She was the pegasus with the multi colored drop of water as a cutie mark. Her mane was yellow and was kind of short for a mare, but if you asked me she looked nice. Her eyes were purple, the kind of purple that you would see on a gem. They even sparkled like gems too. Whenever she was under the moonlight, her light green coat would always sparkle under its shine. She was beautiful. She could've had any colt in the whole school, but out of all of them… she chose me.

Her name was Misty.

It was quite the relationship we had. I still remember the weekend nights we spent together laying under the stars or the nights we spent on my sofa holding each other. Her parents loved me and my parents just adored her. Sure we had our fair share of fights, but none of them were enough to damage our relationship. I thought we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. Yeah, that's how great we were together. Those were the best years of my life.

But then, one thing changed it all. It was just a regular night. My parents were out on their second honeymoon, leaving my house only to us two. We went into my room. At first, it was just the usual cuddling we always do, but then Misty wanted to do more. She wanted to show me that she truly did love me and that we would always be together forever. I just… went along with the moment.

Three months later, Misty started complaining about some stomach problems. The day she went to the doctor, she asked me to come with her. She knew what was wrong and she wanted me to be there when it was confirmed. She was pregnant.

We spent the following months figuring out what we were going to do. At first, I thought aborting the baby was the best course of action, but Misty didn't want to hear it. She said that since the baby was inside HER AND ONLY HER, that she would be the one responsible for giving birth to him or her and said abortion was not an option. I didn't bring it up after that. So we waited till the baby came, enduring everything that came at us. The nasty glares from classmates, teachers, and even our parents, the constant cravings Misty got, and finding a job to help support the baby when it comes.

The day Misty gave birth… the day Misty gave birth was… I don't even know how to describe it. I was there with her, holding her hoof as she was giving birth to our baby. She was in so much pain, she just kept screaming. The doctor kept telling her to push, push, until… the whole room… was painted red. The baby was taken by the doctors to get cleaned up, and Misty looked like she was about to pass out. Her hoof felt so cold, and her face looked pale. Misty was not doing so well.

She told me to come closer. I leaned my head near her mouth and heard her whisper:

"Sky. Call her Sky."

She leaned over to my cheek and kissed it. Then, Misty was gone.

All I remember after that is screaming for a doctor.

I woke up in the middle of the night again. I quickly looked to my left and saw little Sky still sleeping peacefully in her carrier. My little Sky looked exactly like her mother for as she had the same colored mane and tail, same colored coat, and same eye color as her. I could see her wings flapping slowly, probably giving the expression that she's dreaming about flying. That got me to smile. I got up off the bed and looked out the window.

The pony in the window looked at me. I could see my long messy brown mane and my dark orange coat. The light blue eyes stared at my cutie mark which was a can of spray paint leaning on a wall. I changed focus on what was actually outside the window. All that was out there was a large open field.

Right now, we're in a room on a train that's heading to a town called Ponyville. In the town of Ponyville, I hope to raise my daughter well and hope that my career as a graffiti artist will be recognized.

I check the clock.

Its two a.m., which means that today is the day. That's all I was thinking as I headed back to sleep.

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Trait's POV

"Come on Smoke, you're going to be late for your first day." I kept shaking the young sleeping colt, knowing quite well that he was only faking his slumber.

"Come on Trait," he complained under his sheets, "I don't want to go to school. I won't know anypony there."

"Don't worry Smoke; I'm sure you'll make plenty of friends. Now come on, I already made breakfast." That seemed to have did the trick because next thing I know, Smoke zips past me to head downstairs leaving a puff of… smoke.

I go downstairs as well seeing Smoke already digging into his bowl of cereal. "Okay now we need to talk about some rules," I said pulling a chair from the table and taking a seat."

"Aw, again Trait?"

"Yes again Smoke. Now come on. Rule number one…" I pause so that he can answer.

He sighed. "Don't reveal your horn or wings."

"Good. Rule number two…"

"Stay as myself and only myself."

"Alright good, you're starting to get it. Now come on, mirror test." I pulled out a mirror from under the table and made him look at it. "Remember how you look. Tell me what you see."

He sighed again probably irritated by now. "I see a small colt. He has a black and grey striped mane and tail along with a grey coat. His eyes are brown and," he sighed, "he has no cutie mark. He's an earth pony."

"Alright then, I think you're ready."

"Hold up a second," Smoke pulled the mirror away from me and held it up to my face. "You know the deal. You have to do it too."

I let out a chuckle. "Okay, okay Smoke."

"What do YOU see in the mirror Trait?"

I chuckled again. "I see an earth pony with a dark yellow mane and tail and a blue coat. He has brown eyes as well and has a cutie mark of a sword and shield."

"Okay good," Smoke said putting the mirror back under the table.

"Now come on Smoke, don't want to be late for your first day of school."

"Um… Trait," Smoke said with a hint of gloom.

"What is it Smoke?"

"When are we going back home?"

I try to put on a smile as I messed up Smoke's mane. "I'm sure it won't be long Smoke." It was hard lying, but it's all for the best. We walked out of the house and headed towards the school. As we were walking, I could see Smoke shaking a lot. As his older brother, I reassured him by telling him: "Don't worry. Today is the day."

He looked a little ticked off. "What does that even mean?"

"Exactly that. Today is the day." That's all I said as we walked towards the school. It really irritated Smoke off.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Start

Hiro's POV

When my parents decided to settle down in Canterlot, they left their old house for me. The home was built under three palm trees pushed up against each other and was located on the outskirts of Ponyville. It was a two story building, but there's only a kitchen, a living room, and the bedroom and bathroom on the second floor. This was the first house my parents wanted to settle in, till they changed their mind.

I parked the moving wagon outside and started to unpack all my stuff. The sofas and coffee table were placed in the living room, my kitchen utensils went in the kitchen (duh), and the bed… well… you get the idea. Some of the stuff my parents left in the house included the purple tribal curtains and the large blue and green striped carpet placed in the living room. My nose was trying to adapt to the strange aroma that the house was emitting. But I'm sure that after a week of living here, I'll feel right at home.

Once I finished unpacking and setting everything up, I hung my body over the sofa and just collapsed. Pulling that wagon took a lot out of me, and I just wasted my last drop of energy lifting everything inside and setting it up. I am just glad that I'm finally home… home… home… home.

My stomach began to grumble.

Guess I'm hungry. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to go into town and buy some food. Ugh, I was hoping to avoid this situation as much as possible. But stupid me exhausted all my food rations on the way here. That and I forgot to restock on groceries back in Manehattan. I walked out of my house with my saddlebag strapped to my back. Time to, go into town.

You see, I'm not one of those ponies who love social reaction. In fact, I try my best to avoid it at all times. Whenever a pony talks to me, I either silently answer their question about my black clothing, I say hi and nothing else or I just stay quiet and walk away. The guilt of being rude to them always bugs me whenever I do that. But it's the only instinct I have when it comes to encountering those situations.

On my way into town, a large shadow floated over me. I looked up and saw a large flock of birds flying high above me. The strange thing was that they each looked like a different species, so why were they all flying in a flock together? My dumb curiosity got the better of me because next thing I know, I'm following the mysterious group of birds.

I probably should have been smart about this. The birds were taking me off the trail towards town, and straight into a forest. Well, it was kind of small to be a forest. When I reached the center of the ring of trees, there was a large leafless tree that was holding all the birds I was following.

Standing in front of them and the tree stood the most beautiful pony I have ever seen. She had long beautiful pink hair that reached past her shoulders. Her coat shined under the sunlight and her wings looked majestic as they were beating back and forth in flight. I got a small glimpse of her eyes and… wow, they were really nice. For some reason, I felt like I've seen these features before, but where?

Wait a second… it's… it's her. Oh my Celestia, it is her isn't it? I look at the cutie mark and immediately recognized it. Oh shoot, oh shoot, it can't be. I haven't seen her in such a long time. And to see her again, right here in front of my eyes... oh wow.

I couldn't believe it… it was her.

Fluttershy.

Just then, she started to make the motions of a conductor. It was amazing. The birds were singing a soothing tune, swishing back and forth with the melody. The music was… wow… it was all just… wow. I've never felt so… relaxed. My muscles were slowly slinking down, causing my body to turn to mush. I looked at the pegasus conductor and saw a smile grow on her face.

I slowly began to shut my eyes…

…And accidentally blurted out: "Beautiful."

Either I was really loud or she has really good hearing because as soon as those words left my mouth, she made a quick 180 turn around. The birds scattered after hearing her sudden gasp. Thank goodness for my talent. Using my ninja abilities, I was able to avoid her glare towards my direction. Last thing I want is her seeing me spy on her. I kept myself hidden in the shadows of the tree. As long as I was there, she couldn't see me. I started to remember how shy she could be so I thought the best thing to do for now is to just leave her be.

So I left the miniature forest. Usually when I have to make a quick getaway, it doesn't take that much of my stamina. But as I was trying to leave, I couldn't help but pant as I ran off. Maybe the fear of her catching me was causing this. I know that I'm probably faster than her, but that knowledge wasn't enough to calm me down.

I still couldn't believe it. It was her. It was actually her. I couldn't help but get a little giddy. It looks like she really did choose to live on the ground instead of in the clouds, just like she told me. Way to go Fluttershy. I smiled at the thought of saying hi to her again after all these years.

All those years… all those years… years… oh, how long has it been? My smile then suddenly disappeared.

Negative thoughts began to cloud my mind. There could be a chance that she wouldn't remember me. Or maybe she completely erased me from her mind and has a special somepony. Darn it, I knew I should've said something before she left. Why was I such an idiot back then? I slap my forehead a couple of times just to take out my frustration. I was so stupid. Why didn't you say something back at Flight School? UGH! STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!

No, come on, this is some kind of joke. It has to be. There is no chance in a lifetime that she would live in the same exact area I chose to settle in. Maybe I was just seeing things, yeah, that's it. It wasn't Fluttershy that I saw in the forest. Please, like Celestia would set something like this up, ha. Nope it was a pony that I've never seen before. Heck, I can't even remember what her cutie mark looked like again. Oh well, better get going.

So I continued my walk to Ponyville, trying to erase the last twenty minutes that just happened.

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Tag's POV

When I bought the house, it was just a boring one story building with two rooms, a living room, and a kitchen… oh and the whole building was painted white. The only pieces of furniture I had with me was a sofa, a single bed, and of course Sky's crib. All of my art supplies were in one saddlebag and all of Sky's toys and other baby materials were in another. We didn't have much I can tell you that.

Once I unpacked all the stuff and set them up inside, I got started on the fun part. I made sure to put one of those paint gas masks on Sky and got one for myself. I kept her outside in her carrier so I can keep an eye on her while I paint the house. I strapped the mask on and poked my horn out from the top. Then I shook my head up and down and sprayed.

You could call it my own kind of spell since I don't think any other pony has done this before. I have the ability to create paint by using the magic that comes out of my horn. With just a thought, I can create different paint colors with my magic and spray them like an ordinary paint spray can. I sprayed different colors all over the white sections of the house, making sure that each color got its turn on the house. It started off from the top with cool colors like purple, blue, and green. Then it went into the warm colors like orange, yellow, and finally red. It kind of looked like painted rain was falling from the sky and was dripping down on my house.

I took a few steps back to look at my work. You could now easily tell that an artist lives here. "Well Sky," I started, "what do you think?" I turned to where her carriage was and saw it empty. Before I could panic, I heard Sky's cute little giggles coming from the right side of the house. I walked over there and saw her sitting near the house next to a can of green paint. She had green hoof prints and marks on her gas masked face and all over her chest. I noticed that she drew stick figured animals on the house.

I smiled and picked her up. "Wow, well aren't you the eager little artist." She replied with more giggles. "Come on sweetie, let's get you cleaned up." Still don't get how she gets out of her carriage on her own. I took her inside and gave her a bath in the sink. Then I placed her back in the carriage and gave her a bottle of milk.

"Well, now that we're all set up, why don't we go out and explore a little more of the town." Sky just nodded her head in agreement, more focused on drinking her bottle.

We went out and explored more of the town. With our house being so close to the train station, we really didn't get a chance to look around when we got here. Let's see, we have a bakery, a spa, a library, oh wow look at the marketplace. This town was the perfect place to settle in. A few fillies ran by us laughing and playing. Some of the adult ponies would stop us so they can see the cute baby filly in the carriage. Sky's always good around strangers. The ponies here all had smiles on their faces, causing me to smile myself. I'm starting to like this town already.

The only weird thing that happened while we were here was when we met this odd pink pony. She just walked towards us and stopped, just stopped right in front of us. I was a little confused at first on what to do, so I just said hi. Next thing I know, she's leaping into the air, holding a gasp for three seconds, then runs off to who knows. I looked at Sky and saw that she was just as confused as I was (she still didn't get that bottle out of her mouth).

Anyways, the town looks really nice and I'm happy to call this place our new home.

Grumble.

My stomach sure can plan well. It started to grumble as soon as we were passing by the local bakery again. I was just on my way home to get some food but since my stomach is acting very impatient, I guess I can get something here.

I hung my head in front of Sky who finally finished her bottle. "What do you think Sky," I asked her, "You hungry?" She answered with a cute nod and smile.

We made our way inside and saw the whole place was empty. There wasn't even a pony over the counter. I slowly walked over to the counter and rang the bell, causing Sky to clap her hooves.

Nopony came to serve us.

I rang it again, Sky clapped again, and nopony came… again.

The front door opened and another pony came inside. He was a white earth pony with a black mopped mane and black tail. He was wearing a black hooded sweater and black pants. He does know that it's not that cold outside right? He got behind me and stayed completely silent.

The silence was killing me. I felt a little embarrassed every time I rang the bell. The sound would echo throughout the empty bakery. Then Sky would always giggle afterwards. The black suited pony and I were completely quiet.

If a pony doesn't come and do their job right now, I am going to completely lose it.

The front door opened again. Another pony came in and got in line.

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Trait's POV

"Look, I'll be right here at this exact spot to come pick you up okay."

Smoke hung his head down, trying his best to avoid eye contact. "You promise," he mumbled.

I messed up his mane again, "Yeah, I promise. Now go on, you don't want to be late." Smoke just gave me a fake smile and trotted off to the school. Before I could forget, I called out to him: "Remember the two rules Smoke! Oh, and remember that today is the day!"

He pretended to not hear me and just went inside the building. Once the door closed, I knew that he was on his own now. Please, please, please Celestia, don't let this blow up in our faces. Smoke is just a kid; he shouldn't have to deal with this crud. Just thinking about what he has to go through really grinds my gears. Maybe now would be a good time to go out for some training.

I rushed back home and grabbed my supplies; then I headed off into the nearest forest. I made sure that I was in the most secluded part of the area. That way I wouldn't have to bother any of the animals that live here. The area I found was utterly silent, not a soul was there. This was the perfect spot.

I pulled out the sword and shield that were attached to my back and began my training. The training started off with a few horizontal and vertical slashes, some stabs, the simple sword stuff you know. Then I started to get more into it. I danced around doing flips, jumping slashes, positioned myself into a few block and parry stances, more advanced stuff. Next I pretended that I was fighting an invisible swordspony and began making block stances to protect myself from his attacks.

The training was going pretty well… that is until some stuff started to fog my thoughts. Those words… all that stuff they told me… ugh, I couldn't get it out of my head. I focused all my attacks on a single tree and started to slash and stab at it repeatedly. The rage that was fueling my adrenaline made me strike faster and harder. My anger must've gotten the better of me, because now instead of slashing it, I was beating the tree with my shield. Each blow I landed on the tree just got louder and louder. For some odd reason, I couldn't stop myself.

_You're not good enough. Sorry kid, this ain't a place for rookies. Look for another dream kid. Anypony under your protection will probably get killed on the first day._

I don't know why, but I was just getting so angry! I closed my eyes and let loose! It got frustrating when my sword or shield got stuck in the tree, but each time it did I was easily able to pull it out. I didn't open my eyes again until I heard the tree fall down. To be honest, I wasn't trying to knock the tree down, my anger just made it happen.

I fell on my back, exhausted from the little outburst I had. With all my energy finally drained, the training vibe for today was gone. I just stayed on the ground and looked up. The shadows that were casted by the trees blocked the sun from my face as I stared straight into the sky.

It's barely been that long since I dropped Smoke off at the school. That means that I still have the rest of the morning to myself. Thanks to my stupid brain, training is off the list for today. Hmm, what else could I do? Well, I could always go explore a little bit more of the town.

Grumble.

Eh, maybe I should go get something to eat. All this training is making me hungry. I packed up my sword and shield and headed out of the forest. Once I dropped my equipment off at my house, I went to go look for a place to eat. Walking around town with that stuff is just asking for trouble. Only a royal guard would casually carry that stuff around and last time I checked, I'm not a royal guard.

Wish I was one though.

On my journey for some good food, I met a pink pony. I was going to ask her if she knows any good food stops in town, but as soon as I said hello, she leapt up into the air and let out a loud long gasp. Then she just zipped off leaving a puff of dust behind her. That was kind of weird… but I have to admit, she looked kind of cute.

A couple of minutes after that scene, I stumbled upon a building in the shape of a gingerbread house. A bakery, talk about a perfect place to get something good to eat. I walked inside and saw two ponies in line at the counter. One was wearing all black clothing and the other had a baby in a carriage with him. But there doesn't seem to be a pony behind the counter.

I got in line and waited with the two (and the baby I guess). We waited another minute until the pony in front rang the bell.

"What is up with this service," he mumbled to himself as quietly as possible. The baby in the carriage started clapping her hooves together.

The pony in black moved his hood to the front of his face and just started to play with it. I'm guessing he was bored out of his mind too.

Well, since we were the only ones here… would it hurt to start a conversation? I don't think it would.

"Um, hi," I stuck my hoof out beside the clothed pony, "my name's Trait."

He just turned his head slightly to the right and silently mumbled, "Hi." Judging by the way he answered me, I can easily tell he was shy, so I decided to not start a conversation with him. The pony in front turned around and saw my failure of breaking the ice. I blushed from embarrassment and hung my head down.

The room was silent. Every minute that passed, the pony in front rang the bell, causing the baby besides him to clap her hooves. The clothed pony kept fidgeting with his hood and the boredom made me tap my hoof repeatedly on the floor. This went on for about another three minutes. Then once again, all the sound just stopped. We all sighed at the same time.

Just then, a bunch of ponies jumped out of nowhere and yelled: "SURPRISE!" Confetti flew out of nowhere; balloons pushed themselves into the room; a banner saying "Welcome To Ponyville" fell from behind the counter.

I did not see any of this coming.


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: I wanted to update this story early because I'm going to be quite busy this week and won't have that much time with this story. Does it feel a bit rushed... I don't know. Review to let me know how I'm doing.**

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Chapter 2: The Party

Tag's POV

"Surprise," it was the pink pony that I saw earlier today that has just popped up in front of me. "Were you surprised? Huh, were you, were you, were you?" I was barely able to keep up with her speech.

"Very much so," I replied. "Um… what's this all for?"

"I always throw a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party for all new ponies in Ponyville. That way everypony in town can know about the new pony and today we have three."

"Three?"

"Yeah, you," she pointed her hoof at me. "Him," she pointed her hoof at the black clothed pony that was at the food counter. "And him," and then she pointed at the blue pony that was being greeted by some of the party guests. "This whole party is for you guys."

"Um… thanks." I didn't quite know how to show my feelings toward this because it was so sudden. But I'm guessing that's what she was going for.

"I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?"

"My name's Tag."

"Like the game tag?"

"Um… no, not like the game tag. Tag as in tag the wall?"

"The wall can't play tag silly. I've already tried to make it before."

"No, I mean like paint the wall. Only instead I use spray paint. Well I don't use real spray paint but-"

"Well why didn't you just say paint the wall? You know, paint and tag are two completely different things."

I stopped myself from arguing with her after that. It seems like the more I try to explain it, the more she doesn't get it. No sense in fighting a losing battle.

Sky started to giggle at the scene that was unfolding in front of her, grabbing the attention of the pink party pony. "Aw, who's this little cutie?" She began to tickle Sky making her laugh louder.

"Her name's Sky. She's my daughter."

"Aw, who's a cute little filly? That's right, you are, yes you are." Sky just kept laughing louder and louder as Pinkie Pie tickled her, made funny faces at her, and nuzzled her. I couldn't help but smile at the scene that was unfolding in front of me right now.

"I hope you two enjoy the party. Who knows, you might meet a bunch of new friends. Who knows who knows, you might be friends with some of my friends."

"Um, yeah. That would be cool." I wasn't sure whether I was lying or not.

"Alright, I need to go say hi to the other two now. Bye."

And like that, she just zipped away leaving us to enjoy the party.

I have to say that it must've taken some planning to have all three of us at this exact place at this exact time. I mean, we were all here in line just waiting for some baked goods. Did Pinkie Pie plan for all three of us to be here? Nah, I don't think somepony like her would be smart enough to come up with something that good. It had to be somepony else.

I walked over to the food table pushing Sky's carriage. The table was loaded with sweets and drinks that made my mouth water. I grabbed a slice of chocolate cake and ate it in small chomps, enjoying every bit of flavor it had to offer.

Sky was realizing how good the food was by seeing the faces of enjoyment on me and she was getting jealous. Her wings were starting to flap as she stood up from her carriage, and it looked as though she was trying to get a snack from the table. Before she could reach out for one of the snacks, I picked her up and laid her back down in the carriage.

"Sorry about that Sky," I apologized to her, "didn't know that you were paying attention to my facial expressions." She was trying again to stand up and grab a sweet from the table. I gently tried to make her lie down again. "Sweetie, you know you can't eat any of that stuff. You're still a baby."

After seeing how happy she was when I rang the bell counter and when Pinkie Pie was playing with her, it just broke my heart to see her cry for the first time today. She was bawling her eyes out, causing the ponies around us to glance our direction to see what all the fuss was about.

"Come on Sky, its okay," I picked her up and held her in my hooves. I rocked her back and forth, humming a song to help sooth her. Don't worry, if you're hungry, then we can go home and give you some food there." That didn't seem to work because she kept on crying.

Just then, Pinkie Pie came back with a bowl of mashed food with a spoon inside. "Here, give her this," she said tossing me the bowl of food.

I put the bowl down on the table, pulled the spoon out of the bowl and scooped up some of the mushy food. "Alright Sky," I said, "open up. Here comes the train, choo-choo." I slowly moved the spoon towards her mouth. Once the spoon got in enough distance, she could smell the scent that it was emitting, causing her to open her mouth without resistance. She got all the food on the spoon.

"It's a special recipe I made," Pinkie Pie said. "It's so that babies can taste the delicious flavors of sweets without any of the actual harm."

"So it's basically a sweets substitute for babies," I asked her.

"Yup!"

Just then, the bowl disappeared from my hand and I felt some bits of mush fly off and hit the back of my head. I turned around and saw Sky digging in the bowl of mush with her face. Bits of goop flew around, getting food on me, the carriage, and of course on Sky herself. Once the bowl was empty, she started to lick the remaining goop stuck to the bottom of the bowl.

Both Pinkie and I started to laugh. Sky joined in soon after with her cute giggles.

Pinkie suddenly stopped laughing with us and looked to the right. She then grabbed a cupcake from the food counter and dashed off, leaving the two of us confused.

* * *

Trait's POV

"Hi, my name's Trait."

"Hi, my name's Trait."

"Hi, my name's Trait."

The ponies at the party kept coming at me, saying their greetings and welcoming me to Ponyville. It was amazing seeing most of the townsponies here welcoming the newest pony-or should I say ponies- of Ponyville.

Ponies were drinking and eating the scrumptious snacks of the bakery, playing games, and starting conversations. I was busy still receiving the welcomes from ponies so I didn't have much time for that stuff.

When the amount of ponies coming towards me began to decrease, I thought I finally had a moment to myself. But of course, I was wrong. Before I could leave the spot I've been at for the last twenty minutes, I was halted by the pink pony I saw earlier popping up in front of me.

"Surprise," she squealed at me. "So were you surprised? Huh, were you, were you, were you?" Her quick rambling made it difficult to understand what she said, so I considered myself lucky that she was just repeating the same words. When she finally finished, it was my turn to talk.

"Um… yes," I answered dully. "Hey, um, weren't you the pony that I saw earlier today?"

"Yup, that was me. Remember, you were walking down the road and you said hello to me and then I went," she gasped again like she did before, "and then I ran off to go plan this whole surprise party for you and the others."

"Others?"

"Well yeah, the others. There's him," she pointed at the black clothed pony who I tried to talk to earlier. "And him," she then pointed her hoof at the pony who had the baby with him. "This party is to welcome all three of you to Ponyville."

I was flattered; a party thrown for us three just because we're the new residents here. I couldn't help but grin wide like a goofball. The embarrassing part was that I was looking like an idiot in front of her.

"Hi, my name's Pinkie Pie."

"Uh, hi, my name's Trait."

Suddenly, we heard some crying. It sounded like it was coming from the food table. I could see that the pony who was in the front of the line from earlier was causing it. Actually, his baby was causing it. He was trying to calm her down, but the baby wouldn't stop crying.

"Uh-oh," Pinkie Pie gasped (not like before though), "I better go help him out." Pinkie Pie then zoomed into the kitchen, and came back with a bowl of mashed food. She gave it to the pony holding the baby and (I think) told him to feed the food to the baby. He followed the orders and in just seconds the baby was eating the goop and the crying has stopped.

I kept watching the two, kind of because I couldn't keep my eyes off of Pinkie Pie. I didn't know why but every time I tried to look away from Pinkie Pie, my eyes would always come back to staring at her. Geez, I was starting to feel like a little schoolcolt who has a crush on the first girl he met.

At my fifth attempt of trying to look away, I came back to the couple to only see the orange colt by himself cleaning the goo covered baby in the carriage with a napkin. There, now that I don't know where she is, I can stop staring at her.

I couldn't help but feel a little bad that Smoke isn't here to enjoy this. He probably wouldn't enjoy the social interaction but he would just love the sweets that were being offered here. Being a little colt means that his sweet tooth has a much stronger craving.

Dang it, why did I bring Smoke up like that, I couldn't help but think about how it might be going for him at the school. Is he making any friends? Are the other ponies there being nice to him? Is he keeping himself in check? All these worse case scenarios began to play through my mind, ticking me off.

Great, now I can't enjoy the party anymore. I let out a sigh and hung my head down, angry at myself for causing this.

Grumble.

I lifted my head up slightly, and saw a cupcake stick out in front of my face. I lifted my head up a little higher and saw Pinkie Pie right there a few inches away from my face. I couldn't help but blush a little due to how close we were.

"You hungry," she asked me pushing the cupcake closer to me.

Grumble.

"So… is that a yes?"

I smiled and took the offered cupcake. I bit down about a third of it and felt its rich white frosting melt in my mouth and the soft yellow moist bread tickled the roof of my mouth. "Mmmmm, that's a good cupcake." I stuffed the rest of the cupcake in my mouth and enjoyed slowly chewing the goddess-like pastry.

"Good huh," Pinkie asked me with a cute wide smile.

"Yeah, it's good," I answered while I was still enjoying it, "its real good."

"Glad I could make that smile reappear on your face. You look a lot cuter when you smile."

My cheeks went from blue to a dark shade of red. Did Pinkie Pie just… nah.

…Then again… I just hung my head down trying to hide it.

"Huh, why is he all alone," Pinkie mumbled quickly to herself. I lifted my head up to see what she was talking about but she was gone.

Dang, I really wanted to get to know her better.

* * *

Hiro's POV

Never… ever… ever… accept a coupon that you happen to find on the ground.

All I wanted was some freaking food. That's all I wanted. But nope, it seems like I can't even do that without something like this happening.

There was this whole party set up at the bakery offering the coupon's deal. It seems like this whole thing was planned out since the party was for the only three ponies at the bakery during the surprise. That was everypony including me who were in line earlier. Whoever did this set up me getting the coupon, and they knew that I would come and cash it in. They even planned the other two being here as well. Whoever did this must be very cunning. Could it be… maybe.

Either way, I didn't like how my situation at the party was going. Like I said before, I do not like social interaction so I did not like being here at the party. There were so many ponies here talking, laughing, having a good time… it made me feel kind of down being all alone at the food table. I just casually got some cookies from the counter and drank countless cups of punch. I had to go to the bathroom several times. I hated having to ask somepony where it was.

I didn't want to look too odd just standing near the food table, so I moved to other spots that were clear of ponies. I hung out by the walls cleared of party goers and sat near empty tables. The ponies were acting as if I wasn't even there for as no eyes stared directly at me.

But one pony did come up to me. She was the pony I saw earlier today on my walk into town. She stopped in front of me, examined me, and then leapt up in the air with a loud gasp. Then she ran off leaving a coupon behind… a coupon that caused me to be in this situation.

"Surprise," she just popped up in front of my face. "Were you surprised? Huh, were you, were you, were you?"

"Um… yes," I answered kind of getting some of the stuff she said.

"So do you remember me, huh, do you, do you, do you?" She was talking way too fast.

"Um… yeah."

"Remember when I met you and I was all like," she gasped like she did when I first saw her. "Huh, do you, do you?"

"Um… I said I remembered you didn't I?" I just wanted to get out of the conversation right now and this pink pony was not making it any easier.

"So how do you like the party so far?"

"Um… I guess its fine."

"Are you sure, because you're just staring at the ground." I didn't even know she was paying any attention to my actions. I didn't even know that I was staring at the ground. "I can tell you aren't liking the party that much because you're doing the same exact thing my friend Fluttershy does when she doesn't like a party."

Did she just say… no Hiro… no she didn't.

"I'm going to guess," she put a hoof to her chin and put on a thinking face, "that you are shy and you don't like meeting other ponies. Hey, just like my friend Fluttershy."

She said it again… she said her name again… no… no she didn't… stop it brain…

"Ooh, I know," she broke out of her thinking trance, "I should introduce you two to each other. You and Fluttershy would be perfect for each other."

Come on that's three times… you cannot deny it anymore… too bad… I am…

"I know she's here at the party." She held her hoof above her eyes and was scoping out the party guests looking for Flu-… ahem, Flutte-, ugh no, no, no.

"Ooh, there she is," and like that she zoomed off, probably getting Fluttershy.

**It's not her.**

You don't know that.

** Okay, raise your hopes and throw them out the window. Whatever.**

You'll see, it is going to be her, and she is going to remember me.

**Keep telling yourself that.**

Just then, my wings lifted up slightly from underneath my sweater. Somepony was in trouble. I lifted my ears up and completely muted the rest of the world. I can only hear the cries for help now.

**Saved by the bell. Come on, we got a job to do.**

I sighed and ran out of the bakery, not waiting for Pinkie or her… friend to return. Since most of the town was here partying, it was easy to find a spot to change into costume. I leapt into a close haystack and transformed.

I was hopping to avoid doing this.

**As long as there is trouble, you're never going to avoid this. I've told you that already.**

Looks like trouble really does love to follow me.

**It looks that way.**

Just then somepony bursted out of the haystack. It wasn't Hiro, no, it was the Lunar Ninja.

**Showtime.**


	4. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note: Kind of a short chapter after a two week wait. Sorry, but I sort of had to rewrite this chapter twice, frustrating the hell outta me. I don't plan on making short chapters or anymore lame chapters like this one in the future.**_

* * *

Chapter 3: The Wrap-Up

Trait's POV

It was too bad that I couldn't talk to Pinkie Pie again. But unfortunately it was getting close to three P.M. and I had to go pick up Smoke from school. The worriment for Smoke began to grow the closer I got to the building. I was just praying that nothing bad happen to him.

When I got to the school, I saw all of the kids pouring out of the single door of the building. Inside the tidal wave of children was Smoke with this huge grin on his face. When he spotted me, the grin got wider and he ran through the crowd and rushed towards me.

"Oh my Celestia Trait," he squealed at me, "today was so awesome!"

"Oh really," I asked actually being a little bit surprised.

"Yeah. School was so much fun."

"Well that's good to hear. Maybe you can talk about your day on our way home."

"Okay!"

So the entire walk home, Smoke kept going on about how great it was at school. He told me that the teacher seemed really kind and sweet. He told me that at first, he was a little scared making friends and he was actually planning on not making any at all. That is until these three fillies invited him over to play a game of four square.

"They asked me if I wanted to join them in their group," Smoke said. "Of course I said yes immediately. I mean, a club where we try to get our cutie marks, sounds so cool. They invited me to their clubhouse tomorrow after school for my initiation. So… I was wondering… if I can go with them after school, huh, huh?" Smoke looked at me with a pouted frown and giant sparkling eyes.

I chuckled a little at his attempt to persuade me through cuteness. "Well if it means that you'll be making friends, of course. Just remember not to stay out late okay?"

Smoke gasped very loudly (slightly reminding me of Pinkie Pie). "Really?!" His eyes started to slowly grow larger as he anticipated for my second reply.

"Yes, really Smoke." When the final answer was confirmed, Smoke started hoping around me in joy as we continued walking. I couldn't help but laugh at the scene unfolding in front of me. To think that he was so down about starting school this morning. Well, I guess I don't have to worry about him acting like that about school anymore.

To be honest, I don't really want to leave Smoke alone for that long, especially with other ponies. But he seems to be really happy about joining their club. And I trust that he can keep himself in line. Besides, who am I to take his happiness away from him? Making him happy as we're living here is one of my main goals.

The rest of the walk home, Smoke just kept jumping around, giddy as a school filly. I got a little bit dizzy watching him.

* * *

Hiro's POV

I rushed over to where the cries for help were coming from, all dressed up in my Lunar Ninja outfit. Unfortunately when I got there, there wasn't a pony in distress. Instead, all that was there were a few pieces of shed skin. Next to it seemed to what appears to be green slime. I scooped some of the strange substance on my hoof and took a whiff of it. You may have thought it was a bad idea to do so, but this is how I investigate.

I can't seem to recognize this stuff. I've never seen anything like it.

**Hmm, what could this crap be? Perhaps drool from a forest creature. You know how much those filthy animals love to make messes.**

Well, I've never seen a forest animal drool thick stuff like this before. Plus it seems kind of sticky to be drool. It's like glue.

**Well, there is the slight possibility that it ain't drool. Perhaps we stumbled upon an animal dropping.**

Look, I heard the cry for help. There had to be somepony here. I investigated a little more of the area, but found nothing else. Wait a second; if a creature did this, then shouldn't there be tracks or something. All that's here is the skin and ooze. There isn't a way to trace whatever left this stuff.

**Hmm, how strange. Whelp, it looks like whoever was calling for help is long gone now. Guess we were too late this time.**

I can find them. Just, give me a second.

**Oh come on now. You said it yourself; there isn't a way to trace the creature. It looks to me that it was just a freak forest accident alright. You can't always be there for this kind of crap. You can only be there for the villain or criminal attacks. Little fillies need to learn to stay out of the forest full of killer animals. Getting eaten by… I'm gonna say a giant bird, is the only way they're going to learn.**

Seriously.

** Yeah, seriously. Alright let's get a move on. There's nothing that can be done now. All that you got is some old dried up skin and green crap, literally. Let's go.**

I got up off the floor and left the scene. On my walk out of the forest, I slowly started to strip off my ninja costume and slip into my civilian outfit. I folded my ninja outfit neatly and slipped it right underneath my right wing. Then I pulled out my regular pony clothes from my left wing and put them on. Once I felt that the costume was safely tucked away, I stepped out of the forest.

I began my trot over back into town to go buy groceries. You know, the thing I meant to do earlier today.

I sighed. I sort of wanted this day to end already. For my first day in the town, I didn't really enjoy any of it. I felt so out of place at the party, I let somepony get eaten by a wild animal, and the worst part is that I kept tricking myself into thinking-.

"OOF!"

I fell back on the ground, rubbing my head. "Sorry, sorry," I blurted out apologies hoping the pony I bumped into wasn't that mad.

"No, no, it was my fault, I should be the one apologizing, I'm sorry," she apologized back to me.

I started to pick myself up and looked at the pony I bumped into. What I saw literally caused my heart to stop beating. The pony I bumped into was her. The pony that I saw earlier today at the forest. The pony that I was supposed to meet at the party. The pony that I was friends with during Flight School. F-F-Fl-Flut-Flutter-.

**Go ahead, say it. I can safely confirm that it is her.**

Fluttershy.

Realizing that it was her that I accidentally bumped into, I immediately tried to help her up. I was hoping that seeing me again would maybe make her remember. Remember all the fun times we had in Flight School. Remember what happened on the last day of school. Remember me… maybe.

**Keep dreaming dude.**

"Here, let me help you up." I reached my hoof out and slowly held onto hers. It was still as soft as I remembered. However once our hooves touched, she immediately pulled hers back with a gasp. Then she quickly picked herself up and ran off, not saying another word to me.

I was left alone on the road, completely dumbfounded by what just happened.

She… she doesn't remember me. I sighed. I knew it. I knew she wasn't going to recognize me.

**Ha ha ha ha, oh wow. That was sad.**

My cheeks began to blush from embarrassment. Shut up alright. I just… forgot that she was shy okay. I was lost in the moment alrigh.

**Yeah, okay. Whatever you say hotshot.**

Just shut up.

I continued my walk back into town, heading off to the market place to buy the groceries.

The rest of the day, I felt so stupid. I just can't believe I scared off my crush like that.

* * *

Tag's POV

"Thanks again for the recipe Pinkie."

"No problem Tag. I hope your little girl likes it even when it's made differently because you're making it this time."

"Hey, I'm pretty good when it come to cooking."

When the party ended a half hour ago, I stayed to help Pinkie Pie clean up the place. I thought that since the party was sort of for me, I could at least help out a little with cleaning up the aftermath. Unfortunately, the other two who the party was for as well didn't have the same idea so it was just me and Pinkie cleaning. Sky was sleeping quietly in her carriage near the counter.

Once the floor was cleaned and all the tables were cleared, it was time for me and Sky to head home.

But before I could leave: "Hey do you want to hang out some more tomorrow Tag," Pinkie asked me.

"Sorry Pinkie, but I sort of got something else I have to do tomorrow."

"Oh, okay. Well maybe next time then."

I shot a smile at her, "Yeah, next time." And with that said I left. Sky was in her carriage still fast asleep. Her wings were fluttering a little bit, once again revealing to me that she was dreaming about flying again. I can just imagine her all grown up flying high in the sky kicking away clouds, making thunderstorms, and cleaning up winter. I just wish that I was a pegasus too so that I could at least teach her a few things once her wings start to grow in.

I started my walk back home, enjoying the nice sunset scenery of the town. The air was warm, the orange sun was in bloom, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. I had to stop in the middle of the road just so that I could admire the orange blended sky.

Heh heh. For a unicorn, I have a strange obsession with the sky. In fact, I remember back in school, that's all I would ever paint. I would draw sky high mountains, a cruise balloon flying at midnight, pegasi racing against one another at sundown, sometimes just the sky by itself; it's all coming back to me.

** "Hey Tag."**

** "Oh… um, hi Misty."**

** "Wow, that's a really cool painting. How did you get the colors to blend like that?"**

** "Oh, well it's pretty easy to blend the colors when I'm not using a regular paint can."**

** "Oh right, teehee. So, what are you going to call it?"**

** I lifted my painting off the table and held it in front of my face. It was a painting of a rainy night sky with a single pegasus flying through the gloomy weather.**

** "Hmm, I think I'll call it… A Misty Night. What do you think?"**

** Misty smiled at me and wrapped her hooves around my neck. "I like it."**

Guess I didn't freeze up just because I wanted to look at the sky. I was having one of those weird flashback things ponies get. They're not as bad as the ones I have in my dreams, but they are rather annoying; especially when they turn me into a statue.

I snapped out of my trance and continued my walk back home. My little girl slept the entire way.

* * *

_**Next chapter's going to be a long one (I hope). Make sure to leave a review. Those usually motivate me to keep you guys happy or to prove to you that I can do better.**_


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait guys and gals. I was sort of busy writing my other stories that I have on other sites. Well at least I was able to make it past the 6000 mark on the... holy $%* , that's a lot of words. Hope you enjoy the read.**

* * *

Chapter 4: The Past

Hiro's POV

I had a dream.

I was back in flight school. I was no longer all grown up. I was reverted back to being a small school colt. And there I was, standing right in front of my old school building. Next to me was a sign reading: "Welcome young pegasi, to JUNIOR SPEEDSTER FLIGHT SCHOOL." The first half of the sentence came from a banner. The other half came from the actual school sign.

"Can you believe it dude," my best friend Hoops called out to me before running right beside me. "I can't believe that we're finally going to Flight School. I am so pumped! Come on dude, get psyched." He tried to get me psyched by slugging my arm repeatedly. I politely tried to hold him back to prevent him from hurting me anymore.

"Yeah, I can't wait till we learn how to fly," I lamely said.

"Dude, we can fly in our sleep. I'm talking about learning how to do flips and spins and all the cool moves that the Wonderbolts do! That's what you need to get psyched for!"  
I will admit, I wasn't as psyched as Hoops was. But I wasn't going to admit it to him. The reason I wasn't all hyped up was mostly because Junior Speedster Flight School is basically just regular school for pegasi. They just add learning to fly in our schedules.

"Come on bro, let's go see our lockers." Hoops quickly flew off inside the school with me on his tail, slowly following him.

Time skipped.

It was the third week of Flight School, and we barely learned anything in our Flight class. We spent all our time watching all these boring safety films. The worst part was that we had to take notes during the movies, destroying the students' attempts at sleeping in class. The teacher told us we wouldn't be learning how to do crazy tricks at least until the end of the first quarter so that was kind of a disappointment. Hoops hasn't stopped complaining yet.

My other classes were boring as heck since they were the actual school classes. History, English, Math, blah, blah, blah, just name it.

In fact, nothing special really happened in those three weeks. Well, except one thing.

We had to do this partner thing in English class. We were reading a book about a pony who went into space or something (heh heh, I can't remember what it's about). All we had to do was meet up with one other pony and share our answers to some questions the teacher asked us. This was one of the three classes Hoops and I didn't have together. Nopony came up to me, and I was too shy to go up to any of them. So all I did was sit at my desk while the other ponies scrambled to get to their partners. With everypony paired up, I felt really awkward being the only one by himself at a desk.

When all the students sat down, the teacher was easily able to see me without a partner. "Hiro, who's your partner," she asked me.

Everypony in the room glared at me, waiting on my answer. Being really nervous with all the eyes on me, I murmured a: "I don't know."

The teacher then raised her head up and looked at the back of the room. "Fluttershy, who's your partner?" I turned around to see who she was talking to. It was a yellow filly with a pink mane. She had slunk down in her chair, staring straight down at her notebooks on the desk. I don't think she was going to answer the teacher.

The teacher sighed, then called on me: "Hiro." I quickly turned back around, "Can you work with Fluttershy?"

"Um, okay."

"Excellent," she clapped her hooves together. "Alright then, get with your partner, one of you." I turned around and saw the yellow pegasus not moving an inch from her spot. I sighed, got up with my stuff, and walked over to her. I turned the desk in front of hers around so that I could face her. Then I took a seat in it.

"Um, hi," I introduced myself. "My name's Hiro. What's your name?"

"I'm um, Fluttershy…" I could barely hear what she said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. What's your name again?"

"My name's Fluttershy…" I still didn't get it.

"Um… can you repeat it… one more time?" I felt like such a deaf idiot asking that.

"Fluttershy," she squeaked a little bit on that one.

This should be great…

The teacher told us to start our discussion and soon the whole room was filled with chatter. The only ones not talking… us. She didn't even want to look at me. All she was doing was staring at her paper, which by the way had a lot of writing on it compared to my own.

I had to do something. I had to break this freaking silence, before we get in trouble. "So… uh…" maybe I should've thought of what to say before I let something come out of my mouth.

I cleared my throat, "So um… the first question asks us 'why does Moon Ray want to be an astronaut so bad? What about this influences his dream?'" I waited for some kind of social interaction, but nothing came out of her.

I sighed again. We didn't get anything accomplished that day.

When it was lunch time, all the pegasi rushed in the cafeteria to get in line. Lucky for me, Hoops was there early to save me a spot. He let me get in front of him and I got a bowl of greasy noodles and cold vegetables from the lunch pony.

"Hey Hiro," called out Hoops. "You wanna go chow lunch on the rooftops?"

Before I could say 'sure,' my eyes spotted Fluttershy eating lunch at the table in the far back of the room. "Um, maybe some other time Hoops. I uh… have to do something for another class so I'll be eating there. But I'll try to catch up with you guys later."

"Alright, see ya dude." Hoops then flew off with some other guys (I'm guessing they were his other friends from other classes). I walked over to where Fluttershy was sitting and sat on the seat by the seat in front of her.

"Hey Fluttershy," I said to her.

She shot me a quick second glare and sort of smiled at me (at least, I hope it was a smile).

The two of us just sat there eating our lunch for at least eight minutes (I was lame enough to check the clock in the cafeteria every now and again). By the ninth minute, a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail came to our table and sat right next to Fluttershy.

"Hey Fluttershy," she said casually.

"Oh, hi Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said back to her.

Hey! She actually spoke up and said something clearly.

"Are you psyched that we actually get to do some flying in Flight Class today?"

"Not as psyched as you are Dashie."

Okay seriously? I've never heard her talk this much before.

"Um, can we help you," the cyan pegasus snapped at me suddenly.

"What," I blabbered confused. It was then that I realized that I was staring at the two of them with my mouth open slightly.

"You're not bothering Fluttershy are you?"

"O-Of course not. I would never."

She turned to Fluttershy, "Fluttershy, is he bothering you?"

Oh no, I'm going to get it now. By a random mare I just met.

"No, no Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy spoke up again. "He's not bothering me, its fine."

"Did you make her say that," Rainbow said to me.

"No, no I didn't I swear."

"Really Rainbow Dash, it's fine," Fluttershy tried to calm her friend.

Rainbow Dash just gave me a glare, and then went back to eating. She sighed, "It's just that I saw you hanging with that jerk Hoops and I thought you were sent by him to pick on Fluttershy."

"Why would you think that?"

Rainbow Dash just stared at me some more while Fluttershy took a long sip from her juice pouch.

Time skipped. Fluttershy and I were discussing our questions about the book. For some odd reason ever since that day during lunch, Fluttershy was slightly more comfortable talking to me. She was still really quiet, but at least she was communicating with me.

The two of us started to slowly become friends over the weeks here in Flight School. Every time we had a partner project in English, we would always work together. Every time we would see each other in the hallways, we (mostly I) would say hi to one another. And every lunch, I would always sit at her table along with her friend Rainbow Dash (I wasn't sure if she enjoyed my company). Sometimes… I even sat next to Fluttershy.

By the second semester, I've sort of started to get these weird feelings for her. Like every time I was by her, every time we said hi, talked, I would always get this strange sensation. It made me feel scared but at the same time… good.

Then (time skip), it happened.

I was at my locker getting some stuff for my next class. When I got my stuff, I walked down the hallway and was suddenly called by Hoops.

"Hey Hiro," he called from the end of the hall. "Come here really fast."

I casually just walked towards him. I didn't expect anything bad to happen. Hoops was still my best friend and I know that he won't let his other friends tease me or prank me or something. Even though we barely spend anytime hanging out since I befriended Fluttershy. So what was it that he wanted?

I turned at the corner and saw two of his friends teasing a filly. I sighed seeing the scene unfold before me. Just like Hoops' pals to be messing with girls.

"Hiro," Hoops called to me again putting his arm around your shoulder. "It's time we had a chat. You see, me and the guys were talking it over. We're at a new school right? And at new schools it only makes sense for us… well, mostly you, to change your image for the best. You know, enough of the strong silent type. Time for the rough and tough pegasus inside of you to come out and play."

"Um," was all I could say. Well, that and also: "Dude, what the heck are you talking about?"

He sighed. "Okay, maybe I should be a bit clearer on this." He cleared his throat, "Hiro, we're going to make you look tough. And in order to give you a tough guy image, you need to pick on the weaker links."

"So what, you gave me a filly to pick on?"

"Foal steps Hiro, Foal steps." Hoops glared at the guys and gave them the all clear. "Alright you guys, I got him. Step aside and let him handle this. He'll finish her off."

The two friends of Hoops stepped aside allowing me to see the filly they were picking on. And I couldn't believe who it was.

Fluttershy.

She had tears dripping from her eyes; dried ones were at the bottom of her cheeks. I looked at her with an 'oh my goodness,' face. She stared at me with a face of confusion and sadness.

"Go on Hiro," Hoops said pushing me forward. "Here, I'll give you some stuff to work with. Let's see, she's an awful flyer, she's stupidly quiet, she's kind of dorky looking, she-"

"Alright I get it," I halted Hoops' words.

I walked towards Fluttershy. She was shaking, thinking that I was going to hurt her just because the guys said I was. She probably thought that all that 'friend' stuff we did was all a lie. She probably thought that this was the end of our friendship

Well it wasn't.

I stuck my hoof out to her, making her cower in fear and hide behind her hooves. "You need a hoof Fluttershy," I asked her as nice as possible. Fluttershy removed her hooves from her eyes and saw that I wasn't going to harm her. She gave me a small smile and was about to grab my hoof until…

KLONK!

Somepony violently shoved me towards Fluttershy, causing our heads to clonk with one another. The two of us were rubbing our heads, trying to get rid of the pain. I turned around and saw Hoops and his friends laughing at us.

"Dude," Hoops started, "what the heck do you think you're doing? Don't ask her if she's alright. Insult her, make her cry, do something that'll show you're tough."

"Oh you want to see me do something tough," I asked Hoops with a growl. "How about this?" I charged at Hoops and tackled him to the ground. I swung my hooves at his face, getting each blow to connect. He was so surprised that he had no time to protect himself.

I turned around to Fluttershy, who was still on the floor and told her to run, get out of here. Then I turned back towards Hoops and kept attacking him.

He was lucky he had his friends there with him. They pulled me by my hooves and slammed me on the floor. Then they started to kick me while I was trying to pick myself up. I was lucky that they were aiming at my belly and not my face.

Just then, somepony flew into one of Hoops' friends. The one left behind jumped, scared from the sudden rush of wind that just passed him. That was my opportunity to take him down. I quickly got up, feeling a bit groggy, and punched him right in the gut with all my might. He toppled over his stomach and I gave him an uppercut to the chin. The jerk fell back and I was able to get on top of him and pummel his face, just like what I did with Hoops.

While I was on top of him, I got a good glance at Rainbow Dash beating the crud out of Hoops and the other guy (never did bother to learn their names). I'm guessing it was her then that tackled Hoops' friend number 2 (I'm going to call them that now).

We kept the fight going for another minute before a teacher stopped us. She stopped the fight and yelled at us and sent us to both the nurse's office and the principal's office.

I was in the main office sitting in front of the principal's office along with Rainbow Dash, waiting to hear our punishment. We were both pretty bruised up, me more than her. The other three were left with more bruises and blood so they were still at the nurse's office.

"So… uh," Rainbow Dash lamely started, "that was some fight."

"Yeah," I lamely replied, "it was. Um… thanks for uh… coming to help me."

"No problem dude. I couldn't let those creeps hurt my friend."

"Hey, you called me your friend."

"Yeah, I guess I did."

We both chuckled for a couple of seconds.

"Um," I said, "how did you know I was in trouble?"

"Fluttershy got me. Said that you were in trouble. So I dashed off to the rescue." She ended the sentence with a cocky hero pose.

I chuckled. "Thanks Rainbow Dash. And I have to thank and apologize to Fluttershy for what happened? I didn't know Hoops was like that. Sorry."

"Eh, it's alright dude."

Just then, Fluttershy came in the main office. She looked around and spotted us both at the front of the principal's office. She put her hoof to her mouth and let out a gasp when she saw us.

She rushed over to where we were and surprised the both of us when she gave ME a comforting hug. It kind of hurt thanks to all the bruises, but I couldn't complain. She was hugging me… ME!

"Hey," I heard Rainbow Dash say, "I'm alright too you know."

I woke up. I was no longer a little school colt living his childhood again. I was kind of sad that the dream had to end. I enjoyed living out those moments again.

But now it was morning. And I had to face the day.

**Oh joy.**

* * *

Tag's POV

I had a dream.

I was reliving the day 'it' happened. I was back at the school prom. It was all coming back to me… this was the day Misty fell in love with me.

I looked down at myself and saw me wearing a tuxedo. It was just a regular tuxedo, pure black and with a white undershirt, along with a red wine colored vest underneath it. The shiny black shoes on my front hooves were crushing them slightly. My messy medium lengthy mane was in a parted style hair-do.

The gym where the prom was being held was covered from top to bottom with decorations. There were streamers hung high stretched across the ceiling of the room. Multi colored balloons were floating along with them and some of the balloons were tied to the white clothed tables. The lights created by the multiple disco lanterns scattered around the gym made it hard to tell what the original colors for both the streamers and balloons were. The room was either painted entirely out of red, blue, green, or purple.

I only went to the dance because of my friend Spark Plug. He was the one who actually had a date. He only brought me along in case things go horribly wrong. And let me tell you right now that he did not need me there at all. About fifteen or twenty minutes into the dance, he was out on the dance floor grooving with the girl he liked. I was sadly left alone sitting at one of the tables drinking endless cups of fruit punch.

Once I realized that I no longer have a reason to stay here, I finally decided to get up and leave. But before I could stand up from my seat, she came over to me.

At first I couldn't even recognize her. Her short mane was straightened out and she had on this beautiful sparkling dress with glass slippers. I wish the lights could just stop for a second so that I can see what color the dress was.

"Hey Tag," she said to me.

"Oh um, hey Misty," I nervously replied.

"I didn't think you would come to something like this."

"Oh, well I just, um, came to help a friend. I guess he doesn't really need me anymore," I finished pointing at Spark Plug and his date, grooving on the dance floor. "I'm more surprised that you're here. I've never seen you as the type to come to these things."

"Yeah, I just came with some friends. They were the ones who wanted to come to this. I got nothing better to do on a Saturday night so… yeah."

We just stood around for a few seconds. It was an awkward moment.

"Well um," she spoke up at last, "I just came by to ask you if you wanted to dance. Um, do you want to dance?" I've never seen Misty this shy before. What's up with her?

That's when I realized that Misty just asked me if I wanted to dance. Oh my Celestia, this is like a dream come true for me. Say yes! SAY YES!

"I would love to," I answered. I mentally gave myself a facehoof for saying 'love' in that sentence.

"Awesome," she said. "Come on, let's go." She grabbed my hoof and dragged me over to the dance floor where all the other colts were with their mares dancing.

It wasn't until we stopped near the center of the dance floor that I realized that I don't know how to dance. Lucky for me, they were playing some fast music. So I was able to fake my dancing abilities by just swaying to the right and left. I would occasionally stick one of my hooves up in the air in case the song calls for it. Misty would sometimes copy my movements, either because I'm dancing like any regular pony would… or she doesn't know how to dance as well so she's just cheating off of me.

I was having too much fun to realize how much time passed. It must've been close to the end of the dance, because now they were playing the slow songs.

I froze up right then and there like an idiot. How could I fake a slow dance? I need to get off of the dance floor now.

"Hey Tag, what's wrong?" I snapped out of my conflicting mind and saw Misty standing in front of me pouting. "You're not afraid to slow dance are you?"

"Um, well I uh… I don't really know how to slow dance," I told her the truth.

"It's okay Tag. Here, I'll show you. There's nothing complicated about it."

It wasn't the 'complicated' part about slow dancing that scared me. It was the fact that we were going to be touching one another.

"Here, it's like this," she explained to me. "You put your head right here," she touched my head with her front right hoof and gently moved it next to hers. "Just lean your head right here on my neck, and I'll do the same thing." I could feel our coats brush against one another, making me blush a nice shade of red. "Okay, now you can sway back and forth like you did before. Only this time try to slow down."

I blushed harder knowing that she figured I was faking my dance steps the entire time.

The slow songs went on for about fifteen minutes. I couldn't exactly remember the songs they were playing, but I didn't care. I was too busy dancing with the girl I love.

When the dance was over, Spark Plug and his date decided to walk home together. That left me and Misty alone to walk home. Now that there were no lights outside to trick me, I could see that she was wearing a beautiful sparkling cyan colored dress.

The two of us took a longer route back to her house (hers was closer). Misty could've used her wings to fly home, but she told me she'd rather walk home beside me. We cut through countless empty neighborhoods, laughing and shushing ourselves so that nopony was bothered by us. As we were passing by a dimly lit park, Misty stopped us at a bench.

"Hold on," she said, "let's rest a second. These shoes are killing my hooves." She sat herself down on the bench and slipped off the glass slippers. Then she started to massage her hooves. "Ah, that feels so much better." Misty got off the bench and ran around on the grass. "Ah, the grass feels so cool and nice. Come on Tag, run with me. I know your shoes are probably killing you too. So just take them off and let them feel the grass."

Well she was right. These shoes were killing me. I slipped off my shoes along with my socks, rolling them into a ball and putting them in my left shoe. Then I got off the bench and touched the grass beneath me. My back hooves already touched the grass before so they felt no change, but when my front hooves felt it, it felt so good freaking good. Like my hooves just melted.

I took every step slowly, letting my hooves sink deep into the grass. It really did feel cool and nice like what Misty said.

"Tag," Misty called before pushing me, "you're it." She scurried off on the grass, giggling. I realized what we were doing and followed after her, laughing myself. "Not for long Misty," I called after her. When I got close enough to her, I accidently tripped over a dirt hole and fell on top of Misty. I ignored the fact that our faces were just mere centimeters away from each other and just kept on laughing.

I rolled off of her and lied on my back, looking up at the cold night sky. It was perfect out. There weren't any clouds and the moon was making a full perfect crescent.

"This sure is a nice night," I said aloud so that Misty could hear my comment.

"Yeah, it is," she said back to me. She rolled over so that she was looking at me. "So I'm guessing you're looking at your next new painting huh?"

"I… I guess." Dang, she can read me like a book.

"I can read you like a book," she said.

We were both laughing, enjoying the night we were having. I was feeling as though I was on top of all of Equestria. I turned to Misty one more time and (accidentally) blurted out.

"You look beautiful."

I realized what I just said and quickly tried to cover my mouth. Misty looked at me, a bit dumbfounded at first. But then she gave me a warm smile and scooted closer to me.

"You don't look so bad yourself Tag," she chuckled. That left me with a huge blush on my face. "But…" Misty got even closer to me and put her hoof on my head. She then started to mess up my parted mane, "I like your mane when it's messy."

She moved her head closer to me and… and…

She gave me a quick kiss on my lips.

When she pulled her head away, I could see a faint blush on her face. It was nothing compared to the one that was on my face right then and there.

We stayed staring at each other for another minute, but then I moved my head closer to hers and I… I kissed her back.

The scene changed.

I wasn't at the park having one of the best nights of my life with Misty. I was at a cemetery having one of the worst days of my life.

It was at the part where they were just putting the casket in the grave. Everypony was quiet and all you could hear were the raindrops falling and making contact with the umbrellas. I let the tears sneak past my eyes and fall to the grass beneath me.

Across from me on the other side of the grave were her parents. Her mom, who was an earth pony that had a light green coat and a cyan mane, was sobbing quietly on the shoulder of her husband. He, the pegasus with the yellow mane and dark green coat, was embracing her in a hug. Both of them were wearing appropriate funeral attire.

The dad raised his head up and made eye contact with me. He gave me a menacing glare with his grass green eyes and I could still see the tears drop from him.

He blamed me for this. He blamed me and Sky for the death of his wonderful daughter. The death… of their only daughter…

I woke up. I could feel the drips of sweat slide down my coat and my forehead. The bed sheets were glued to my coat and my pillow was covered in warm sweat. I quickly got out of bed and threw the bed sheets off of me. Then I walked over to the bathroom and… went to the bathroom.

When I finished my business, I silently tipped toed into Sky's room. Since I was already awake, I should check to see if Sky's awake too. To my surprise, she wasn't. She was still sleeping peacefully in the crib, hugging her plushie of a rabbit.

It's kind of funny that Sky, a baby, is sleeping peacefully tonight while I, an adult, am having trouble sleeping. I look at Sky one more time before I decide to leave her room.

I went back to my room and got back in my bed. I flipped my pillow over and tossed my blanket aside so that I can avoid sleeping in my sweat. Then I lied down, shut my eyes and tried to get some shuteye.

I have a big day tomorrow. I have a job to do tomorrow.

* * *

Trait's POV

I had a dream.

I was in a kitchen, the kitchen of my old house. I was there at the table with my parents eating a plate of cheesy hay fries and a lettuce patch sandwich. My parents were talking about something. I was too busy eating my delicious dinner to hear what they were saying. Then they were telling me something.

"Hey Trait," my mom called to me. I lifted my head up to look at her, having some cheese drip from my mouth. She gave me a warm smile, "We have some wonderful news for you."

"Hmm," I said wiping the cheese from my mouth.

"How would you feel about being an older brother?"

I looked at her a little bit confused. It was kind of a weird question for her to be asking me. Usually she asks me how my day was going or how was school or something. But she never asked me how I would feel about having an older brother.

"Um," I tried to find an answer to give her, "I would feel… kind of… well I… um… what?" Yup, I couldn't find an answer.

My parents looked at each other, expecting a better response from me. Then they stared back at me and my dad said:

"Son, Trait, we're going to have another baby. And you're going to be a big brother."

I was completely frozen. I didn't know how to react. I didn't know how I should react. So all I did was go back to eating my delicious cheesy hay fries and sandwich.

"Um, Trait," my mom said. I raised my head up towards them again to see they looked rather confused. "Aren't you excited?"

"Um," I mumbled, "I guess." And I went back to eating.

**Geez, I wished I would've acted a little more appropriately when they told me that.**

The scene skipped. I was in my backyard. This, I think, happened about a couple of days after my parents told me about them having another baby.

I was in the backyard playing with a metal rod. The rod is actually part of this thing my dad uses to clean the pool, but I just took out the net part.

I was using the rod as though it was a sword. I was swinging it back and forth, slaying all the imaginary dragons that came my way. I hopped around the backyard, swinging my ro-, er, I mean, swinging my mighty heroic sword slashing at the imagi-, no, slashing at the REAL dragons that were flying towards me.

**I love my imagination.**

I was no longer in my backyard. I was on top of a mountain. The sky was orange, the clouds were somewhat grey, and I was wearing an entire suit of armor. The dragons, they stared at me, feeling intimidated. They knew who I was.

I was the knight who slain many dragons. I was the knight who had never lost a single battle. I was the knight that everypony wants to be like.

I was the Knight of… the Knight of… Equestria? No, that's lame. Um… the Knight of the Wind? No, not cool enough. The Knight of the… um… ooh, the Viewtiful Knight. Okay, now I'm just making up words. Eh, I think I'll just stick with 'The Knight,' for now.

**Still can't think of a good name.**

Anyways, back to the action. The dragons flew at me, opening their jaws and showing me their rows of razor sharp teeth. I raised my sword up and prepared myself for some dodging maneuvers. I leapt to the left, dashed to the right, and slashed with my sword in all kinds of directions. Each dragon that foolishly charged at me was slashed and taken down with one mighty swing. I was smart enough to know where their weak points were. All dragons have the same one.

The dragons, soon realizing that they didn't stand a chance against me, backed off or flew off to who knows where.

"I have won," I yelled into the air raising my sword up.

"Not quite," a voice said from behind me. I turned around and saw a large black dragon armored pony sitting in a throne of bones. Next to him was a magical orb containing the ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia.

"The Dragon King," I shouted. "Release the princess at once."

"I'm afraid not 'The Knight'" he chuckled. "Can't you see she's much more comfortable being my little trophy?"

I had no time for this. I pulled my sword out and stood my ground. "Enough, we fight now."

"Let us have our final battle then." The Dragon King stood from his throne. He snapped his fingers, causing a large charcoal colored sword to appear in front of him. He grabbed it and pulled it out of the air.

He then charged at me, still able to run pretty quickly even when wielding that behemoth. He raised the sword up and slammed it towards me. I quickly dashed over to the right and dodged the attack, doing a roll just because it looks cool. I quickly picked myself up and charged at the fiend.

The battle raged on for what seemed like forever to us… but in reality it only lasted probably about ten minutes. I got The Dragon King with a straight stab, pushing him on his back like a helpless turtle. I then leaped into the air and planted my sword right in the dead center of his chest. The Dragon King spit up a big wad of saliva and blood that dropped right on his left cheek.

We stayed like this for a while, until I got tired and got off of him, deciding to leave the sword in his chest. I walked over to the giant glowing orb that was holding the princess captive. I placed my hoof on it and pronounced the spell that the wise wizard of the west taught me. Once I finished my chant, a crack appeared on the orb. Then, it just completely fell apart like a shattered window. The princess was free, Equestria was saved.

"Princess Celestia," I said to her bowing. "Please forgive me for taking so long. I've been through quite the adventure."

Princess Celestia gave me a warm smile and said: "Please rise brave knight." I followed her order and got off the ground. "Equestria and I are in your gratitude. You have saved us all from the dark reign of The Dragon King. You truly are a knight worthy of being my personal guard."

"P-Personal guard," I stuttered. "Your highness, I… I… would be honored." I bowed again.

"Please rise up my heroic knight." I followed her order again. That was when the princess, THE princess, kissed me right on the nose. It was her way of thanking me for saving her.

**Oh yeah, I forgot about my baby crush on the princess when I was little. It was just a stage.**

Before the rest of the ending could happen however, my mom called me from inside the house.

I was now back in my backyard. The princess was gone. My sword was now a metal rod and it was planted in a garden of dirt. All of my cool knight armor was also gone.

"Trait," my mom called to me again. "It's time to eat. Go get washed up and get your dinner."

Suddenly, the scene changed. I was coming out of my room after playing a fun game of capture the flag (by myself).

As I left my room, I could hear the crying coming from my mom in the dining room. I slowly walked down the hallway and to the living room. I was trying to be as quiet as possible so that my parents couldn't hear me. Unfortunately, I failed.

"Trait," my dad called to me. I knew it was already too late to go back into stealth mode so I came out of the hall and met my parents face to face.

**I remember this day all too clearly. This was the day… the day they told me I wasn't going to be a big brother.**

The sad part was that I wasn't crying because of that. I was crying because my parents were crying and I didn't like seeing them like that.

**I didn't know how bad the situation was until after a year.**

I woke up. I turned to my clock and saw that it read 2:00 A.M. I could hear the chirps of some crickets outside. I could also hear the clangs of pots and pans.

... Wait, pots and pans?

I got out of bed and walked to the kitchen. I saw a small lantern glowing in the dark, and the coat of somepony. I grabbed another lantern on the living room coffee table, lit it up and walked towards the mysterious pony. The glow coming from my lantern allowed the mysterious pony to identify me in the dark.

"Trait, is that you?"

I sighed and blew the lantern in my hoof out. "Smoke, what the heck are you doing up this late?"

"I couldn't sleep. I got hungry. I got up and went to get a snack," he finished along with the rest of a cupcake he had in his hoof. "Why are YOU up so late?"

I took a while to answer him. Seeing him after having that awful dream, felt weird. "I got up due to somepony making noises in the kitchen."

"Oh, you heard me drop the pans?"

"It's kind of hard not to hear it."

"Sorry about that. I was trying to get the toaster out to make some toast. But I accidentally dropped the pans doing so. I got scared that I was going to make more noise, so I just settled with a cupcake." He was chuckling nervously.

I sighed. "You really shouldn't be up this late Smoke. You have school tomorrow. Not to mention a so called initiation to a club."

"I tried to get some sleep, but I just can't. I'm so excited." He got somewhat giddy once he finished his sentence.

"Well eating sweets this late isn't going to help ease it up. Just get a drink of water, go to the bathroom, and go back to bed."

"But I was hungry."

"Well at least get an apple or something. Don't eat a freaking cupcake."

"Sorry, but you know me. I love me some cupcakes."

I sighed again. "Alright, come on. Get back to bed. You have school tomorrow."

He sighed. "Fine." Smoke trotted out of the kitchen and went back to his room. I also left the kitchen and went to my own room. I lay back in my bed and pulled the sheets over me. It took a while longer than before for me to sleep, but at least I was able to.

The rest of the night, all I dreamt about was a boring black screen.

* * *

**End Note: There will be a couple more chapters about the three main characters' past, so stay tuned for those as they will explain quite a lot. Make sure to leave a review guys. I love me some reviews. Catch ya later.**


	6. Chapter 5

**After a three month hiatus, it feels good to come back feeling rejuvenated. Although I do feel a bit rusty. I'm sure it'll go away though. Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 4: The Flight, the Job, and the Forest

(One Week And A Half Later)

Tag's POV

For the past week, I have been only doing a few small jobs around town. At first, the jobs were pretty big. I had to paint murals on buildings and paint historic landmarks. I was paid very handsomely. But now that all the jobs that I got before I came here are finished, I've been resorting to doing small jobs. Now all I'm doing is painting logos and signs for businesses and I have occasionally painted a few houses. And the pay is not all that amazing compared to my first few jobs.

To get more work, I've made sure to put a sign in the front of my house saying: **AN ARTIST LIVES HERE. WILL DO ANY PAINT JOBS.** I thought putting that sign up was stupid, but it has gotten me some jobs.

Today however, I haven't been getting any clients. So I've been spending this boring Saturday at my house, playing with Sky and her blocks. Sky has tagged along (no pun intended) on every single one of my jobs. She's usually asleep while I'm doing this or she's making her bunny plushie dance. This is, I think, the first time we played in the house together. Sky's smile that lasted the whole day just showed how happy she was that I was playing with her.

And I was happy to spend this time with her.

During our play time, Sky would occasionally stare at the window. And at one point she started to crawl over to the door. It was pretty obvious to me what she wanted.

"You want to go outside Sky," I asked her to confirm my suspicion.

She turned her head back to me and nodded.

I walked over to her and picked her up with my hooves. I don't really like using my magic to lift Sky because she's kind of doesn't like it. So I always carry her with my hooves or in a carriage or in my new baby saddlebag carrier. Today, I chose to put her in the new carrier.

We both went out for a walk, passing by homes and businesses. I even passed the businesses that I painted signs for.

But after a few minutes of walking, Sky started to get a little rowdy. I think she wanted to run around outside and play. So I took her to the park. There, I placed Sky on the grass field where her attention was grabbed by a pink butterfly. The butterfly flew around, making Sky swoosh her head back and forth. The butterfly's beauty awed Sky. She soon went after the bug.

Sky chased after the butterfly, following it even when it does a 180 flight turn. I was just sitting on a bench watching the two and absorbing the fresh air. I was so relaxed there that I almost fell asleep. In fact, I think I did for like three minutes. Because when I opened my eyes, Sky was gone.

I immediately began to panic. I looked around the field, only seeing plant life. I ran back and forth across the field calling out her name. "Sky! Sky, where are you!"

Suddenly, I heard giggles. I looked up and saw Sky, my baby pegasus, flying in the sky along with the butterfly. I couldn't believe it. She was flying… Sky was flying! I didn't know whether to be excited or to be scared out of my mind. She was really high up.

"Sky," I called out to her, "Sky! Young lady, get down here!"

It seemed as though Sky was completing ignoring me. In fact, she was ignoring the butterfly too. Now that Sky was high up, she was more focused on trying to fly higher. Sky was at first gliding so that she can gain some speed. Then she did a few dips. I would always try to grab her then but failed at every opportunity. Once she rose up from her sixth dip, she flew up and was able to get more altitude than before. I would try to grab her with my magic, but she was moving so fast I couldn't focus on one spot.

"Sky come down please," I called out to her. But she still wouldn't listen. It's the thing I feared the most coming true. Sky flying and me being helpless below. I just didn't think that it would happen this soon. I couldn't really do anything besides stay below and hope that she floats back down. Oh Celestia, please be careful up there Sky.

She started to get bored flying in the park so it was then that she decided to go fly around town. I was in pursuit of the flying filly, staying underneath her in case her wings give up or something. Unfortunately, Sky had quite a lot of stamina. She kept on flying and flying and I was starting to get tired running after her. Dang, how is she doing this on her first flight?

But thankfully, after ten minutes, she finally stopped. She stopped… and parked herself on the ledge of a three story building! I wasn't quite sure what the building was and I really didn't care. All I wanted was my freaking baby back!

I wasn't sure what Sky was doing up there, but she has to be freaking out. I had to get to her. I opened the door to the building (thanking Celestia it wasn't locked). I passed by all these ponies wearing suits and ties, trying to find the stairs. When I spotted them, I sprinted up the stairs with the remaining energy that I have left. When I got to the third floor, I looked out the window where the ledge Sky was on was at. I stuck my head out and saw her… laughing. She wasn't scared at all. I was the only one being scared right now.

Whatever, she's in danger and she doesn't know it. I have to get her down from there. I slowly started to place myself on the ledge Sky was on. Shaking while doing this didn't really help, but I just couldn't stop. I was kind of high up.

Did I forget to mention that I have a fear of heights… which is actually kind of funny considering how much I admire the sky's beauty, heh heh. Oh geez, I hope I don't fall.

I had to make sure that my whole body stood up while I was doing this. That way I could fit on the ledge. This made it even harder for me to balance myself and it made it just as scary to get across. I slowly shuffled across the ledge, looking straight ahead with my eyes closed. I used Sky's giggles to help me tell how close I was to her.

Geez, I wish I would stop shaking. It was not helping my balance.

When I felt something tap my bottom right hoof, it was a signal telling me that Sky was right beside me. I opened my eyes and stared down to my right. Yup, there was Sky just sitting there clapping her hooves together. If only she knew how scared I was.

I knew that what I was going to do next might not be a smart idea, but it was the only way that I could get Sky safely without putting either one of us in harm's way. I had to use my magic to grab her.

She might not enjoy it, but I had to get her down from here somehow. So I began to focus. My horn began to glow a light orange. I was trying to not use so much power on my magic so that Sky wouldn't notice what was going on. But apparently she is super sensitive to this. She noticed what I was doing and did not like it one bit. Sky immediately got back into flight and zoomed passed me. Her causing the wind to suddenly blow right at me caused me to lose my balance. I tried to stick to the wall but the wind was so strong that it blew away one of my legs. And it's hard to keep balance on a narrow ledge and on one hoof standing up right. And it's not like the wall had anything I could grab on, it was a brick wall!

I tipped over the ledge like a tree tipping after it got chopped down. As soon as my last hoof left the ledge, I flailed around praying that this wasn't the end. But as I fell down, Sky zipped passed me, giving me the opportunity to finally catch her. You could say that it was dumb of me to grab onto Sky in order to prevent me from falling, but when you're THAT close to certain death you can't really think well.

Sky sort of felt my weight as I grabbed onto her back hooves but she was still able to fly at the same height (which was by the way, really high). Even with me screaming, Sky was still giggling and having a fun time. She had some pretty close calls passing by building after building, almost getting me maimed by each one. Sky, even with me holding onto her, was strong enough to fly up to the clouds. Did I mention how scared I was while all of this was happening?

We didn't fly that long (although it felt like forever to me). The thing that stopped us was another pegasus almost crashing right towards us. Sky and the black pegasus turned violently away from one another. Sky, losing her momentum of flight headed for a pile of hay for a serious crash landing.

FWOO!

The two of us crashed into the pile of hay, popping our heads out like moles. I spat up some hay that got in my mouth. Sky, even with all that happened, still kept on laughing. I think this time she was laughing at me.

I just sighed, relieved that the ride was over and that Sky was okay. I pulled her in and gave her a warm hug, never wanting to let her go again. When I pulled away, I saw something green on Sky's forehead. I touched the odd liquid with my hoof, leaving a green stain on her forehead. I then licked my other hoof and wiped the stain off.

Ew, what was that stuff?

Hey, why does my cheek feel weird? I touched my right cheek and saw the same green… what is this stuff? Where did it come from?

Wait… the black pegasus.

I looked up to where I thought Sky and the mysterious pegasus crashed into each other. Not to my surprise, nothing was there except an empty sky (no pun intended).

* * *

Trait's POV

I've been… sort of having a struggle with trying to find a job here. I knew that when Smoke and I decided to stay here, I had to find a job to help support us. But I didn't know how hard it was to actually get a freaking job around here.

Not a single place would hire me. Most of them said it was because they weren't really looking for workers, some of them… I was just awful at the jobs, and the other some were looking for only unicorns and pegasi. It's a bad week to be an earth pony.

The last place that I haven't asked for a job is the one place that I try to avoid asking. The freaking bakery. But not just any freaking bakery. It's the bakery that SHE works at. I knew she worked there due to me catching her behind the register a couple of times selling the baked goods of the place.

The reason I don't want to work there is because I've been having these strange feelings stirring up inside me. Most of the time, they show up when I look at her or when she passes by me on the street and says hi. And it especially goes crazy when she starts a conversation with me. I feel like this is because… well… maybe, and I repeat maybe, I have an um… crush… on her. But… that can't be it… can it? Maybe it's bad gas or a stomach ache or something. It can't be a crush. Oh just listen to me.

Well… I do need to find a job, and I'll be letting myself and Smoke down if I don't do it. We do, after all need the money. Especially if Smoke keeps gobbling up all the food in the house. Curse you cravings!

I'm standing in front of the building, staring at the help wanted sign hanging at the front of the left window. What a coincidence that when I need a job, this place is offering one. My heart kept on pounding, feeling as though it was about to pop out of my chest and run off. I took each step forward slowly, but not so slow that I look like a weirdo. I entered the building and took the help wanted sign off the window. Thank Celestia somepony else was behind the counter of the bakery today. I sighed and walked over to the new baker pony behind the register.

"Well hello there," she greeted me.

"Hi," I said back to her. "My name's Trait."

"Well hello there Trait. I see that you got our help wanted sign. Were you considering working here at Sugar Cube Corner?"

"Yeah, yeah I am. I need a job and I saw that you were looking for a worker. I can assure you ma'am that I am a very hard worker and no matter what job you give me, I can show you that I am." I couldn't tell whether I was passing myself off as too much, but I was so desperate to get this job. I have nowhere else to go.

"Well, you are the first pony to ask for the job. And we have had that sign up for a couple of days now." Did she say A COUPLE OF DAYS?! HOW IN EQUESTRIA DID I NOT KNOW THAT EARLIER?! CURSE YOU MIND FOR KEEPING ME AWAY! "Sure. You can have the job."

Hold up, wait what? "I can have the job, seriously?"

"Seriously," she said with a smile. "You can start tomorrow in the morning, seven o'clock sharp. My husband and I will see how you do for the first week and if you're as much as a hard worker as you pass yourself off as, we'll keep you."

"Wow, really…" I couldn't believe it. After a week and a half of job searching and struggling, I finally found one just like that. Life sure is weird… or… hold up, I think I can find a better word… um… okay I got nothing. "Thank you. I'll make sure to get here tomorrow at seven in the morning on the dot." I turned around and started to walk towards the exit, waving to the blue baker pony that gave me the job.

"Alright then, bye Trait."

"Bye Mrs., um, I'm sorry… I didn't quite catch your name." Wow, am I stupid.

"Just call me Mrs. Cake sweetie," she helped me.

"Oh okay. Bye Mrs. Cake," I fixed my sentence.

I was at the doorway, ready to step outside when all of a sudden, a pink blur tackled me. I had my eyes closed as soon as I was hit, and I didn't open them again until I fell on the floor. I started to blush like crazy now. Because right now, Pinkie Pie, the pony I have a crush on, is on top of me.

Pinkie was on top of me, smiling, giggling, and not blushing like the pony she was on top of. "Oh my Celestia Trait," she said, "I can't believe it. You're going to be working here at the bakery. We're going to not only be friends, but also co-workers. Oh this is going to be so much fun." Pinkie gave me a big hug and squeezed me with all her might. My face was a mixture of both red and blue (and not the blue of my coat, the blue of losing oxygen).

"Pinkie," I gasped for air, "you're… you're squeezing me," I tried to get some amount of air but I couldn't, "I… I can't breathe."

"Oh sorry Trait," Pinkie finally let me go of her iron grip. I took deep breaths trying to refill my lungs with oxygen. "But still I can't believe it. We're going to be working together!" She stood up and kept hopping up and down, a huge smile on her face. I was trying to pick myself up from the ground.

"Yeah… it's uh… it's going to be fun," I said to her with a nervous smile. I couldn't stop blushing. I had to get out of here right now. "Hey um, I uh, I have to go. Um, I need to go, um, not be here." Smooth Trait, real smooth.

I tried to run off but Pinkie Pie stopped me by grabbing onto my hoof (causing a small blush to appear). "Hey Trait," she said, "you don't want to stay for a cupcake?" All of a sudden, she just pulled a cupcake out of nowhere. Now the cupcake looked pretty good, with its shiny blue frosting and golden sponge bread, but the whole 'pulling it out of nowhere' kind of made me nervous to take it.

"Um, I um," I had no idea what to do.

"Come on Trait," Pinkie said pushing the cupcake towards me, "it's not like the cupcake's going to bite you. Unless my friend Twilight did something to it to make it a horrible monster, but I can promise you that I didn't let anypony touch it."

I'm going to be honest right now. I didn't get much of what she said thanks to her quick speech, but for some reason…

I took the cupcake.

The cupcake tasted as good as it looked. I stuffed the whole thing in my mouth, feeling the frosting fall apart thanks to my saliva. The soft moist bread felt like I was chewing on a cloud (yes, I have chewed a cloud before, it tasted weird and don't ask why I did it).

"Mmm," I hummed, "that really was good." I could see Pinkie smiling at me, happy to see that I enjoyed the cupcake she gave me. I swear her smiles are so contagious, I could feel the ends of my lips move up.

"There's that cute smile of yours," she said. Agh, why does she have to say that? Now my cheeks are all red. I had to leave.

I did a 180 turn and started to trot off towards the exit. "I'll uh; I'll see you tomorrow in the morning Pinkie," I said not turning back around to face her. I accidentally squeaked when I said 'Pinkie' in the sentence. This caused me to speed-trot.

"Okay, see you tomorrow Trait," was the last thing I heard Pinkie say.

Once I got at a good distance from the bakery, I started to run. I ran off, trying to get as far away from the bakery as possible. I couldn't stay so long there, otherwise I would pass out.

Oh man, was this a good idea? I mean, I'm going to be spending my weekdays (and weekends I think, still kind of unsure about the schedule) working at a bakery with a girl that I have a crush on. A part of me wants to do it, and another part thinks it's a bad idea.

Sweet Celestia, why am I thinking like such a little school-colt? I'm getting all nervous about a freaking crush. What am I, ten? But seriously though, was this a good idea?

But that's when I started to think back on Smoke. We needed to stay low. We might even have to start a new life here. That means that no matter how bad the situation will be for me, a job is a job and I'm keeping it. I mean, did you not see how easily I got it in the first place.

Anyways, since the day was looking good, and since Smoke was still off hanging out with his friends, I guess I should go train. I need to hone my skills and prepare for anything bad that might come our way. I also need to train for when I want to join the royal guards again. I went back home and grabbed my sword and shield. Then I ran into the nearby forest and started my training.

I did the usual slash and stab motions, the jumps, the parries, all the same stuff I always do. Only this was one of the few times that I didn't get so damn frustrated and angry.

Before I packed up after a rough day of training, I saw a few shadows fly high above me. Looking down at the shadows, I noticed that they were way too big for a bird to make and they looked kind of unnatural. The shape was… odd… and the wings had… oh no.

I looked up immediately, and didn't see the creators of the shadows anymore.

Please, please, please don't tell me…

Damn it! I thought we got rid of them. Damn it, damn it, damn it! How in Equestria did they find us?! I need to go find Smoke NOW!

I quickly got my sword and shield and ran off in the direction the shadows were facing.

* * *

Hiro's POV

If I was a regular pony, right now, I would probably be at work earning bits for all my hard work. I would probably be baking, delivering mail, whatever. But since I'm not, I'm instead out in the forest looking for trails of green slime and shredded skin.

Throughout my stay here in Ponyville, I've been hearing multiple screams coming from the forest. Apparently, no other pony has heard them except me. This is probably due to the attacks occurring in the deeper parts of the forest. I could hear them thanks to my advanced hearing. At each crime scene, all that was left behind were globs of green slime and pieces of shed skin. There have been at least four attacks.

So starting today, I've been patrolling the woods, trying to find out who's doing all this. Of course I don't investigate dressed up as the Lunar Ninja. Nope, instead I'm walking around as a regular old citizen. Though I do keep my costume close to me (aka, under my right wing).

**I knew it, I knew it. You just couldn't keep away could you? Of course not, you're the freaking Lunar Ninja. I knew your goody two shoe nature would make you want to investigate more on this.**

Look, something seriously weird is going on. There have been multiple screams heard throughout the forests and at every spot I go to, there's always some skin and green slime. I have to find out what's going on.

**I believe we already agreed that they were just the results of what happens when stupid children play in the forest.**

Don't you think news of children getting eaten in the forest would spread around town like wildfire?

**How would you know smart guy? You're too afraid to get close to anypony.**

Okay then, what about in the papers? Wouldn't news like that be… newsworthy?

**Alright fine, I'll give you that. But should you really worry about this so much? It could be wild animals brawling with one another.**

But there's no trail at every crime scene, and the screa-

**Also, also, if somepony was eaten or killed or something, like you said, wouldn't that news spread around? Wouldn't there be ponies freaking out in town? Wouldn't they be charging at the forest with torches and pitchforks, hunting the creature, or creatures, causing this?**

** The town is still as peaceful as it was when you first came.**

This is strange. I need to dig deeper into this.

**And to think, you wanted to 'start a new life, get rid of the Lunar Ninja, be a regular pony.' Ha!**

Shut up.

**Dude, just admit it. This is your job, your duty. You are the Lunar Ninja. You are the perfect pony for the job. A loner who doesn't have any bonds with anyone. You're perfect.**

I don't want to be the Lunar Ninja. I just want to be a regular pony dang it.

**Sorry dude, but destiny has other plans for you. I also don't think any normal pegasi has wings like yours dude.**

Shut up.

** Hmm. Hey, do you hear that?**

I point my ears up and begin to hear something not that far away. It sounded like somepony snoring. I turned to where I thought I heard the sound coming from. Then I walked a few steps forward and looked up.

Somepony was asleep on a cloud. I could see a tail hanging off the edge of the cloud. It had a strange color pattern. A pattern I would recognize anywhere.

**You know who it is.**

Yeah I do.

**You gonna say hi to her or what?**

Uh…

**Oh come on dude. She was one of your friends too.**

Yeah, but if Fluttershy couldn't remember me, then what makes you think she would.

**Say hi to her you wimp.**

Eh, she's already peacefully asleep on the cloud. I don't need to go and wake her up.

**You are such a wimp.**

I'm ignoring you.

I walked away with my eyes closed and my nose raised up, like some snooty Canterlot pony. He hates it when I do this to him. But by doing this, I accidentally ran into a low branch. The old branch fell off the tree and I stumbled back, holding my nose with both of my front hooves. The pain searing through my nostrils hurt like crazy. I stomped on the floor a couple of times and groaned loudly in frustration. Ow, why does my nose have to be so sensitive?

**Really dude?**

Not now.

"No way."

Wait, how could my ears hear that?

I turned around and looked up (my hooves still on my nose).

**I can see that the snore maker has finally awakened.**

"Hiro? Is that you?"

I stare at the pony for a few seconds and then gave out a small smile. "Rainbow Dash," I said acting surprised. "Is that… is that you?"

Rainbow Dash stood up from her cloud and leapt off, floating down in front of me. "Whoa, it really is you."

"Uh, yeah… it… it really is me."

**And now comes the awkwardness of Hiro.**

Shut up.

"Whoa, I haven't seen you since forever. Not since we finished Junior Speedster Flight School. How's it been Hiro?"

"Uh, good, good. I just moved here."

"Whoa, really?"

"Yeah, I live just outside of the town."

"How long have you been living here?"

"Uh, about a week and a half."

"Well how come I haven't seen you around until… well, now?"

"I don't really go into town that much."

"Oh. Does that mean you didn't really get rid of your shy personality?"

I blushed. "Uh, yeah I'm still shy." I nervously laughed a bit embarrassed. This caused Rainbow Dash to start laughing too.

She then stopped out of nowhere. "Oh, dude we have to go tell Fluttershy about this."

Wait what?

"Wait… Fluttershy," I said pretending to be shocked (at least, I think I was pretending).

"Yeah, she lives here too you know. Come on dude, we have to go see her."

No, no, no. I can't just go and see her. Especially since what happened last time I saw her. Why must you make me act this way nervous jitters?

"Uh, dude?" Whoops, I sort of dozed off for a second. "What's up with the black getup? You're wearing a black sweater on a hot day. Can you explain why?"

"Oh, um," crud, crud, crud… come on, think of a lie. "I uh… force of habit." Darn it.

"Kind of a weird habit don't you think?"

"Yeah, I'm uh, trying to get rid of it." What an awful lie.

"I would also try to get rid of that shy habit too."

"Heh, thanks for the advice. I'll see if I can try."

"Come on dude, let's go see Fluttershy. She would love to see you again."

Time for one of those moments where I try to wrestle with my inner thoughts. Okay, let me see. Why wouldn't I try and go say hello to Fluttershy? I mean, maybe if I go and see her, I can explain to her about what happened when I accidentally bumped into her. But, how can I explain? But she might remember me. But then again, she might not.

"Uh Hiro?" I did it again… ugh. "Can you give me a heads up on when you're going to randomly space out? Come on, are you coming or what?"

Suddenly, my wings perked up. Unlike before at the party, my wings were slightly sticking up higher. I perked my ears up as well and started to hear something.

"Uh Hiro," Rainbow Dash started almost breaking me out of my trance, "what's up with your wings? And why are you pointing your ears up like that?"

"Hey uh Rainbow," I started still having my ears and wings up stupidly, "I uh…" I had to find a way out of this situation so I could see what was up with my wings. "You know what, yeah, lets go see Fluttershy. I would love to see her again." Did I seriously say love in that sentence?

"Awesome! Follow me; I'll lead you to her cottage."

As soon as Rainbow Dash turned away from me, I immediately disappeared without making a sound or leaving a trace. I quickly dashed off into the forest, going to go find the cause of my wings acting up.

I felt bad for leaving Rainbow Dash like that. I hope that when I see her again, I could come up with a good excuse as to why I left like that. Oh geez, that's going to be hard.

I take a left turn through a pair of perfectly aligned trees and trotted forward. As I got closer, I swear that I could hear something like… singing. But not just any kind of singing, it was majestic singing. The voice was so soothing; it kind of made me feel tired. So tired that I wanted to just lie on the grass and sleep (hehe, I almost did).

Anyways, when that was done, I continued my walk towards that voice. When I finally got to it, I could see something that only fate would do.

It was Fluttershy; she was the one who was singing. She was trying to calm a young black rabbit. She cradled the small creature in her arm, treating it as though it was her child. She swayed the rabbit back and forth soothingly, all while singing a majestic lullaby.

Fluttershy is so… amazing. No wait… hold on a second. I can find a better word.

**No you cannot.**

Seriously, shut up.

**So are you going to talk to her or what? Because it's kind of creepy that you're staring at her from a bush.**

Ugh.

**Hey dude, look, you like her right? I know you do. So why don't you try to talk to her, try to pick up where you guys left off. At least then you can go back to being friends. And then you can build a relationship off of that.**

I… I don't know.

**Oh my Celestia, come on dude!**

I don't even know what to say to her.

**Here, let me help. Ahem, 'Fluttershy, Fluttershy is that you? Oh my Celestia it's been ages since I last saw you. How have you been? What, you don't remember me? It's me, Hiro. You know, your best friend from Flight School. Come on, you don't remember? Don't you remember all the fun we had together? Do ya, do ya?'**

But… we did meet already remember? We bumped into each other, I tried to help her up, and then she ran off.

**Oh yeah. Hehe, that was funny. Okay then, just pretend that none of that happened.**

Are you serious?

**Yes, now come on. Go, see her, say hello, interact with her, do something! Stop with the whole stalker junk and actually try to be her friend. Try to pick up where you left off in Flight School.**

You're right. You're absolutely right. I… I'm going to say hi to her.

**That's my boy!**

Yeah, I'm going to do it, I'm going to-

Before I could finish that sentence, I heard something from the distance. It sounded weird, like some kind of buzzing sound. It couldn't be a bug, this buzz sounded like it was coming from afar. I had to raise my ears so that I could hear it. Then… my wings perked up again from underneath my sweater. What is that sound, where is it coming from, and is it the cause of my wings acting up?

**Hey dude, look up.**

I did exactly that and saw something black in the sky. There were three black dots in the sky, hovering right above where Fluttershy was. I focused my eyes on the mysterious dots and tried to see exactly what they were, but I couldn't tell exactly what THEY WERE. I've never seen any creature like them before. They were all black and their wings looked all torn up. Two of them had horns on their foreheads that kind of reminded me of a horn on a rhino. The other one's horn looked like somepony took a bite out of it. And it seems that they were the ones causing all the buzzing. One of them seemed to be larger than the other two.

**What the hell are they?**

I have no idea.

Just then, the two small ones began to descend towards… Fluttershy. The two connected their… hooves… I think they're hooves (they looked just as torn up as the wings), together, spat in them, and started to rub them together as though they were trying to keep their hooves warm. The two then began to separate from one another, causing a large glop of green slime to appear in front of them. I couldn't believe it. That was the same green slime that I found at each one of the crime scenes.

**Well, well, well, how quite interesting.**

What are they doing?

**Well, it seems like these three are the cause of all those attacks happening in the forest. And my guess on what they're doing… dude, your fillyfriend is their next target.**

What?!

All of a sudden, the unknown creatures holding onto the green slime flew quickly down towards Fluttershy. Fluttershy was completely unaware of the attack, just barely releasing the rabbit back into the wild. She never stood a chance against them.

The creatures were quick, I'll give them that. They flew circles around her, only looking like two black blurs to the naked eye. It took them only three seconds, three seconds to have Fluttershy all tied up. During those three seconds, I could hear Fluttershy let out a small scream.

They had her wrapped up in a green slime cocoon. They left the top of her head unwrapped, allowing her eyes and part of her mane to still be free. I could tell by looking in her eyes that she was afraid, that she had no idea what was going on. And when she saw the creatures' faces, her eyes got bigger and she struggled and screamed like crazy underneath the cocoon. Of course with the slime covering her mouth, all her screams were muffled. Then, her eyes began to close. Whatever that green stuff was made of, it was causing Fluttershy to sleep. Once she was knocked out, the creatures picked up her cocoon, and started to snicker.

**And the entire time, they kept hovering. How quite… interesting...**

I have to stop them!

**Hold on a sec dude.**

What do you mean 'hold on a sec?!' Fluttershy's in trouble, I have to save her!

**Dude, just wait.**

No, I won't! She needs my help!

I leapt out of the bush and yelled at the horrific monsters. "Hey," I yelled, "what do you think you're doing to her?!"

The two creatures stared straight forward, their pupil-less bright cyan eyes staring back at me. The two hissed at me, giving me a full show of their super sharp fangs. I could see something fall off their hooves while they were holding Fluttershy. It looked like… skin. Like they were shedding.

**And that explains the shed skin.**

"You better let her go right now or else!" I threatened them posing myself in a fighting stance.

"How brave," a deep sarcastic voice said out of nowhere. I looked up and saw the larger one of the three finally float down in front of me. He hovered along with the other two and gave me a creepy smile. "The little pony is threatening us."

The bigger unknown creature looked a lot more intimidating than the other two. He had a row of razor sharp teeth to go with his front two fangs. His skin was pure black and you could see tribal markings all over his body. His horn and wings were larger than the others, but they still kept the same look (and that bite mark that I mentioned earlier). His eyes however, were pure white.

The bigger creature turned to his allies behind him and growled, "I thought you said there weren't any other ponies in the area."

"There weren't boss," one of the smaller creatures cried out, "we swear."

"Then why is he here," he yelled pointing his messed up hoof at me.

"I don't know. We didn't see him."

He growled in anger. "Worthless," he insulted them, "all of you."

Then he returned his focus back to me. "So little pony, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"I want you to release the girl right now!"

"Didn't really answer my question now did you." Just then, he opened his mouth and shot a large green beam at me. I didn't expect something like that to happen, or for something like that to come out of his mouth. The beam made contact with me and sent me through the forest, crashing through probably about four to seven trees. The beam felt like someone just threw a wagon at me.

I stopped flying after colliding with the last tree and knocking it down. I will admit, that hurt like hell. But I've taken heavier hits (I know, crazy right). I am a superpony.

**And yet he can't take a branch to the nose.**

I quickly picked myself up off the ground and took off my now destroyed black sweater and black pants. Then I pulled the Lunar Ninja outfit out of my right wing and suited up.

**I just realized something.**

Oh yeah, what's that?

**Did you notice how they kept hovering above the ground? They didn't once touch the grass.**

Yeah, so?

**So that explains why there weren't any tracks or hoofprints. These guys are attacking ponies who are in the deeper parts of the forest and they seem to not want to leave much of a trace. They don't want anypony to know what they're doing.**

Well I would think that leaving green slime and skin behind is a pretty dumb thing to do if they don't want anypony knowing what they're doing.

**Pfft, what a bunch of amateurs.**

Now if you don't mind, I need to go save Fluttershy.

I dashed through the forest, hoping that I could get to Fluttershy before they could escape. These guys look like they mean business. So I guess that means that I can finally use old Kit-Kat again.

**Heh, it's been a while since I've seen that bad girl.**

* * *

_On the next chapter:_

_When the two monsters showed up in front of me, I made sure to whistle to grab their attention. The two stopped right in front of me just as I planned. They started to look around for the source of the sound. I counted to three in my head._

_Then I leaped out of the bush and tackled one of them with all my might. I slammed him against the wall, causing him to groan in pain._

_"Hey wait a second," the non hurt one said. I turned my attention towards him, and tackled him into a tree as well. He, like his friend groaned in pain._

_He slid down against the tree, staring at the pony that just defeated him._

_"You…" he muttered rubbing his stomach. "It's you."_

_I gave out a cocky smile, making sure that I was showing my teeth. "Yeah, it's me."_

_"So," that sudden deep voice scared me a little. I turned around and saw the leader of the group right next to the tree that the first monster was knocked out on. "It seems like we found you young one." He gave me a creepy toothy smile. "You should know better than to abandon us... and the princess."_

* * *

**_Yeah, the titles are a bit new and the previews are completely new. I just... wanted to try them out, see if they could work. I hope so cause I kind of enjoyed writing the preview._**


	7. Chapter 6

**Still trying to shake off that rusty feeling.**

* * *

Chapter 6: The Target, the Crusaders, and the Misunderstanding

Waru's POV

"I am amazed by your three's work. In just a short amount of time, you have already given me four ponies for the sacrifice. All we need is one more and my plan will come into full motion."

"Yes princess," the three of us said in unision.

"But this last one will be quite tricky to obtain. You see, the ritual requires a special kind of piece to take part in it." The princess pulled out a black book. "To be more specific," she then tossed it to us, making sure that it opened on a specific page, "a piece of harmony." The page she showed us showed a picture of five colorful gems circling around one gem in the center.

"I need you three to go and capture one of the six Elements of Harmony. It is crucial that one of them becomes part of the sacrifice."

"Hold up a sec your highness," Grunt commented like an idiot. "You expect us three to go capture a pony whose part of a group that took down Nightmare Moon and Discord?!"

"You have nothing to fear Grunt. The bearers of the elements, without their necklaces or crown, are as weak as the other citizens you captured."

"But during the invasion on Canterlot, they were able to take a lot of us down even without the elements."

"That was when they were all together. I'm sure you three can take on just one of them alone. But just in case, I also made sure to pick one out specifically for you to capture."

The princess pulled out a yellow file. She then tossed it to us. Grunt and Stooge tried to pick it up, but I growled at them before they could. The two pulled back and I grabbed the file off the floor.

"With the research I've obtained," the princess continued, "through history books and through what my mother has told me about them, I learned that there is one weak link in the group." She motioned for me to open the file.

I opened it up and saw a bunch of papers with writing on it. On the top right of the file being held up by a paper clip was a drawn picture of who I'm guessing was our target. Guess we didn't have the real picture of her so we needed an artist who actually saw her to draw it for us. She had a long light pink mane with a butter yellow coat. She was giving out a small smile in the picture. I looked at the right of the file to see the label and I saw that her name was Fluttershy.

I quickly scanned over the papers that were in the file. Oh yeah, we can take her. I'm pretty sure even alone, Grunt or Stooge could take her.

"She is by far the weakest link in her group," the princess went on. "She is also the one most likely to go into the forest due to her caring nature for the animals that inhabit it."

Grunt and Stooge pushed up against me, staring at the hoof drawn picture of the girl. The two were just glaring at the picture. Seeing how close they were to my face, I shoved them both away in anger.

"Wow," Stooge commented, "she looks really hot."

"Remember you three," the princess continued, "we need an element bearer to complete the ritual. Without one of them, it won't work. And remember that either you, Grunt or Stooge, have to take her place."

"Wait," Grunt commented yet again like an idiot, "we have to pretend to be a girl?! Seriously?! You couldn't have saved one of the girls for that job?"

"Stop complaining like such a child Grunt. Now go prepare for your visit. And whoever is going to take her place, read up on the file. It talks about how she acts, who's her friends, who's her… animal friends, and how she would normally react in certain situations."

Grunt and Stooge looked at each other; probably trying to figure out who it was going to be that was going to replace her. "Hoof wrestle to see who has to be her," Grunt suggested.

"You're on," Stooge accepted the challenge. The two then ran off to the other room to decide who will be Fluttershy's replacement.

I was left alone in the room with the princess.

"Do you doubt my plan Waru," the princess asked me.

I turned around to face her, "No your majesty, I don't. But I do want to know why your mother didn't agree to this plan in the first place."

The princess just chuckled. "My mother is a fool. She's weak. She didn't want to do this plan in fear of what would happen if we succeed.

"But what I want to know is why are you and the other six joining my side instead of following my mother's orders. Why are you helping me instead of trying to stop me? Why aren't you following the 'queen's' orders?"

I sighed. "I know the females find that you have much more potential than your mother. I also know that the males follow you because they are attracted to you. You have much more youth than your mother that's for sure. I on the other hoof am just following your mother's orders. She told me that I am to be your personal guard and to follow every order you give me. You ordered me to disobey her and follow you in this plan, so I obeyed."

The princess just gave me a small smile.

"Now may you inform me on exactly what will happen once the ritual is complete?"

The princess kept her smile. "Waru, just know that when the ritual is over, my mother's rule will come to an end. And I will be known as Queen Vinena, ruler of Equestria."

She then started to laugh maniacally.

* * *

Smoke's POV

On my first day of school, I was scared for my life. Standing in front of the class and introducing myself to them was so scary. All those new faces staring at me, I don't like to look back on it.

I was happy that during recess, when I was all alone on the swings, she came to introduce herself to me. She told me her name was Apple Bloom. She noticed that I didn't have a cutie mark and told me about this club she has where her and her friends try to earn them. She then asked me if I wanted to join them.

Seeing this as an opportunity to finally make friends made me jump at the offer.

The initiation was kind of weird because of what was said during the speech. Let me just say that I think they were expecting another girl to be in their group. That made things kind of awkward. But at the end of it, I did get this really cool cape as part of joining the group.

Anyways, throughout my time here I've been tagging along with the crusaders on every single one of their plans to earn a cutie mark. Though I do find it pointless for me to try since it's basically impossible for me to earn one. But hey, it's fun hanging out with them. I've had a blast.

We've tried to get a synchronized swimming cutie mark, a package delivery cutie mark, a baseball cutie mark, and so many more. We've been quite active around town.

And guess what kind of cutie mark we were going after today? I'll give you some hints. We're out in the forest. All four of us are holding nets. And we're all wearing safari hats that were supplied to us from Sweetie Belle's sister (that's what I was told). No we're not catching creatures (the girls apparently tried that already).

We're catching bugs.

We've been traveling around the forest all afternoon trying to catch some wild bugs. However we're not very good at it. The only thing we caught so far today was bushes and each other. But I wasn't complaining, I was having a blast. I love hanging out with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. There wasn't a second where I wasn't smiling.

But I couldn't say the same for the girls. Sure the beginning was fun because they were eager to try and get their bug catching cutie mark. But after many failed attempts and as time went by, they started to have doubts about this plan. Right now, they're just swinging their nets without a care in the world. Basically, they gave up.

I guess the failure couldn't affect me as much as these three. I'm just doing this for the fun and nothing more. If I do become a master bug catcher from doing this, it's not like I'll get a cutie mark from it. But it wasn't enough to bring me down. Since I've never hung out with friends like this before, I thought this was fun.

But then, the girls really started to get annoyed.

"Maybe our cutie marks aren't in bug catching," Sweetie sighed, dropping her net.

"Yeah," Scootaloo agreed throwing her net to the ground. "Let's just go already. We can think of something else back at the clubhou-."

"Hold on a sec girls," Apple Bloom hushed Scootaloo by covering her mouth with her hoof. "Look."

Apple Bloom pointed over at a very large beetle that was lying on top of a rock. The sun's beam was perfectly shining upon the shiny yellow insect. I'm surprised a beam of light can even go through the tree's thick leaves, let alone land on top of this insect. It's as if it is a sign from Celestia herself. She sent us this bug so that we may catch it. I'm guessing since Apple Bloom was the first to spot it, she would be the one chosen to do it. And she knows it.

"Alright girls," Apple Bloom whispered to us, "I'm going in."

Apple Bloom put the net in her mouth, got on her belly and started to crawl towards the yellow beetle. As she got closer and closer to the insect, she started to slow down her crawling. As if she wasn't slow enough.

"Come on Apple Bloom," Scootaloo complained in a whisper, "just swipe the thing before it wakes up and flies away."

Scootaloo's complaining wasn't enough to break the focus on Apple Bloom. When she reached the rock carrying the beetle, she slowly rose up from the ground. Though we were looking behind her, I could see her brush some sweat from her face as she slowly lowered the net in her mouth. The beetle was still staying very still. Now the three of us in the back were looking forward in such suspense.

Apple Bloom was so close to grabbing the beetle. She raised the net up slightly, brought it down slightly, rose it up slightly, and lowered it slightly. As she raised the net up to its highest point, I could swear the tension just moved up to a hundred and two. Once the net reached its highest point…

SWOOSH!

In the small instance she slammed the net down, the beetle was able to move out of the way. Now that her element of surprise was gone, Apple Bloom went crazy with the net. She swung that thing back and forth, forcing the beetle to do all these crazy dodge maneuvers.

"Come on Apple Bloom," Scootaloo cheered, "get it, get it!"

"You can do it Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle joined Scootaloo in cheering Apple Bloom on.

I was an idiot and just stood there, jumping up and down in excitement. I was cheering for her in my head, I swear.

Unfortunately, the beetle got tired of his game with Apple Bloom and just flew away. This caused Apple Bloom to follow in hot pursuit. We three followed Apple Bloom in hot pursuit. In order to finally get away from Apple Bloom, the beetle was a jerk and flew up into some trees. Not being a flying pegasus, Apple Bloom couldn't do much except jump for it and swing her net violently up. Once she realized that this chase was done and the beetle has won, she fell on her knees and hung her head in defeat. She spat the net out of her mouth and kept her head down. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran over to comfort their defeated friend. I on the other hoof went to go do something else.

I followed the yellow beetle. I could sense that it left the tree that it hid in and I decided to follow it. I made sure to not run pass the girls in order to avoid looking rude (and also for another reason). So I went around them hiding behind some of the trees. When I got to the place where I thought the beetle was at, I looked up at the trees and tried to look for the insect. Since I couldn't get to him, I would make him come to me. I looked all around me making sure that nopony, especially the girls, were around. Once I was sure the girls couldn't see me from here, I let my wings pop out of my body. I started to make a buzzing sound with the wings, beating them back and forth, back and forth, as if I'm preparing for flight. This got the beetle's attention.

He popped out of one of the trees and stared at me with his big bug eyes. Now that I got his attention, I quickly stopped my wings buzzing and put them away. Good timing too because…

_"Hey girls, did you hear that?" _That was Sweetie Belle.

_ "Hey, where's Smoke?" _That's Apple Bloom

Oh crud, they're coming. I looked at the beetle and began to communicate with it. A pony with my talent has the ability to talk to some insects. At least, I think a pony with my talent can do this. Heh, maybe this will be my destiny. CUTIE MARK CRUSADER BUG TALKER!

I could hear the bushes behind me rustle. I turned around and saw the other three crusaders coming out of the bushes.

"Smoke, why'd you run off like that," Apple Bloom asked me. I could see that all three put their hats and nets back in their own saddlebags.

"Oh, uh, well," I mumbled nervously, "I was just um…" To save me from the awkwardness to come in this conversation, the yellow beetle swooped passed me and flew straight towards the girls. The girls were a bit surprised to see the bug return, but Apple Bloom was wishing for this. The three ducked the beetle and let it pass by them from above. As the beetle turned around, Apple Bloom pulled her net out of the bag and leapt up at the beetle. She got the insect in one clean sweep.

She caught it. Heh heh, she actually caught it.

"Look girls," Apple Bloom cheered… then stopped for a second looking at me. "Uh, and Smoke too. Look what I got!"

The girls got beside Apple Bloom and stared at the shiny yellow beetle that was in the net. I stood beside the crusaders and stared at the bug in awe as well. I smiled at the creature that was captured and gave him a wink.

We stared at the bug for five seconds until all of a sudden, Scootaloo's face changed. She now looked kind of, confused.

"Well," Scootaloo started, "now what?"

Now it was Sweetie Belle's and Apple Bloom's turn to look confused. "I don't know," Sweetie Belle said. "Do we… do we set it free?"

"Are ya kiddin me," Apple Bloom complained. "You know how hard it was to capture this varmint."

"Well, what else are you going to do with it," Sweetie asked.

Apple Bloom gave a good five second stare at her captured insect. "I'm thinking about keeping it."

Wait, did she say keeping it? "Uh, Apple Bloom," I started, "maybe Sweetie Belle is right. Maybe you should set it free."

"Not you too Smoke. Don't ya see how rare this beetle is? When do you ever see a gold beetle in this here forest before?"

Gold? "Are you sure that's gold," Scootaloo asked her.

"Well sure. Just look at how it shines in the sun." Apple Bloom held the net up higher so that the bug can shine in the sun's lights. "I think this beetle will make the perfect mascot for the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

"Mascot," the three of us said.

"Yes," Apple Bloom said looking at us, then staring back at the beetle, "our mascot."

I just know that right now that beetle is super mad at me. You see, I asked him if he could just get caught by the one in the bow just this once. Then I promised him that he'll be set back free. I just wanted Apple Bloom to be happy. I guess she is. And I'm guessing that the beetle isn't.

"Aw, Apple Bloom," said Sweetie Belle, "you didn't get your cutie mark."

Apple Bloom finally stopped admiring the 'golden' beetle and looked at her flank. Like usual, it was blank. Looks like her talent isn't in bug catching.

"Oh," Apple Bloom said, barely realizing she didn't get her cutie mark. Then she shrugged it off and said, "Oh well."

"Oh well," Scootaloo repeated a bit shocked.

"Yeah, oh well. At least I caught this little guy. Our new Cutie Mark Crusader mascot." She raised the net up so that we can admire our so called new mascot.

Oh I hope that beetle isn't too mad at us.

_Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz._

_ Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz._

_Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz._

Huh, for a second there I thought I heard buzzing. The buzzing seemed way too loud to be a bug's buzzing. It sounded like the buzzing sound I made in order to attract the beetle.

_ Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz._

Okay yeah, I heard buzzing.

Suddenly BAM!

I could hear something slam behind me. I only got a second glance at the girls' faces but I could see the horror on them. I turned around and saw something slammed up against a tree. I couldn't believe it. It was a… a… a…

"CHANGELING!" I could hear the three scream behind me in shock. Wait, the girls know what a changeling is.

The changeling groaned in pain before he turned towards us and hung his mouth open.

"Oh the boss is so going to kill me," he said to himself (though it looked like he said it to us).

What could we do? I mean, I know I couldn't do anything because the girls were here and I couldn't show them what I could do. I was afraid they might freak out even more. And I don't think they have what it takes to take down a changeling.

But instead of coming after us, he flew back into the direction he crashed. The four of us were frozen in fear. It wasn't until Apple Bloom suggested we run that we decided to…

"RRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNN!"

We all made a mad dash out of the forest. We ran past tree after tree, bush after bush, I was kinda wishing that we didn't go so deep in the forest for these dang bugs. And the entire time, Apple Bloom still hung onto the net carrying the 'golden' beetle.

If my knowledge of changelings is any good, then we don't stand a chance running away from him. Changelings are known to be quite fast flyers. Young fillies and me as a pony running won't be able to get away from him.

And if what I know is true, then the changeling didn't run off for no reason. Changelings always travel in swarms. My guess, he went to go get his friends. The more the merrier is like a changeling slogan.

I stopped running. The girls ran past me, and were quick to turn and look at me. They were confused as to why I stopped.

"Smoke come on," Apple Bloom panted, "we have to get out of here."

"Girls, you go on ahead," I told them. "I'll buy you some time."

"You can't be serious," she gasped.

"Smoke, that's dumb," Scootaloo commented. "That was a changeling back there. We have to get out of the forest and go tell somepony, like Rainbow Dash. She'll take care of it."

"We can't outrun a changeling." Have to give them a reason why besides that I know a lot about changelings. "A changeling has wings," I said with a nervous smile. "I'm pretty sure that flying is much faster than running. It won't be long till he catches up with us."

"But we can't just leave ya behind," Apple Bloom said. "That changeling will gobble you up."

"Don't worry about me," I told them as I started to run off. "Just go, run, get help! I'll be fine." Then I disappeared into the forest. Please tell me they decided to not run after me.

I ran for about fifteen seconds back into the forest. Then I found a large bush that I could hide in and just dove into it.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

How could something like this happen? All we were doing was trying to get our bug catching cutie marks. And now here I am hiding in a bush hoping that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo got out of the forest and back into town. Oh, and I'm also kind of terrified. I hope I don't die.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

I didn't go with them because somewhere in my gut, I knew I could take whatever changelings come my way. I can stall them so that I can give the girls some time. Not to mention that I don't want any of my new friends to get hurt because of something that I think I'm responsible for. Maybe they really will get somepony to fight them.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Okay, relax Smoke, you can do this. Come on, you've been trained for something like this. Just remember all the stuff dad and Trait taught you back at home. They're going to underestimate you because of your size. That will lead to their downfall at your hooves.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

I think I can hear them with my enhanced hearing.

_"Come on Grunt, or we'll lose them."_

_ "I'm coming Stooge."_

_ "We can't let those little brats escape. They'll tell somepony what we've been doing."_

_ When the two monsters showed up in front of me, I took off my pony disguise. To make sure that they wouldn't get away from me, I whistled to grab their attention. The two stopped right in front of me just as I planned._

_ "Did you hear that Grunt," one of the creeps asked the other._

_ "Probably just a bird Stooge," the other one said. "We are in a forest after all."_

_ They started to look around for the source of the sound (well one of them was looking, the other just looked annoyed). I counted to three in my head._

_ Then I leaped out of the bush and tackled the one searching with all my might. I slammed him against the wall, causing him to groan in pain._

_ "Hey wait a second," the non hurt one said (his name is Grunt). I turned my attention towards him, and tackled him into a tree as well. He, like his friend Stooge groaned in pain._

_ He slid down against the tree, staring at the pony that just defeated him._

_ "You…" he muttered rubbing his stomach. "It's you."_

_ I gave out a cocky smile, making sure that I was showing my teeth. "Yeah, it's me." I then growled at him like a dog (I think I saw him jump up a little)._

_ "So," that sudden deep voice made ME jump a little. I turned around and saw the leader of the group right next to the tree that the first monster was knocked out on (at least, I thought he was the leader, he was pretty big compared to the other two). "It seems like we found you young one." He gave me a creepy toothy smile. "You should know better than to abandon us... and the princess."_

I got into the fighting stance that my dad showed me. Dad told me that I should look intimidating while I'm doing this to throw off my enemy. So I growled at him and showed him my sharp teeth.

"My, aren't you scary," the deep voiced monster insulted me. "It's like looking at a mirror. You may just grow up to be as fearful and powerful as me."

"Don't compare me to yourself," I barked at him. "I am not you."

"Funny thing to say. You know, because you really are like me. A monstrous, hideous, revolting, changeling."

I kept my stance up and growled louder at him.

"I must say that it is quite a surprise to see you here. We may have not gotten the bearer of kindness, but I think the princess will be happy to know we got the rogue changeling instead."

"I am not going back with you."

"What, would you rather stay here in this forest, protecting little school fillies and colts?"

"Anything is better than going with you."

He sighed sarcastically. "Why must you be so difficult? Why must you go against your own kind? I mean, what kind of changeling does that?"

"Me, because I'm not one of you. I'm a pony by heart and that's that."

He just laughed at me. "Oh really? You think you're a pony? You think that you don't need love to survive? You think that by just gouging yourself in food will be a good substitute for it? You think that you'll live the rest of your life happy in a lie? You think you can just put on a pony disguise and leave your real changeling body in the dark forever? Let me tell you now that that wont' work.

"What do you think will happen when a pony finds out you're a changeling? Do you think that they will give you a chance to explain yourself? Do you think that by just saying you're a nice changeling, they'll immediately like you?

"No, they won't. Thanks to Queen Chrysalis's little show at Canterlot four months ago, changelings are seen as a menace to society. Ponies see a changeling walking around here; they'll chase it down with pitchforks and torches. Don't you get it, thanks to the queen; ponies now have a phobia of us. I don't blame them for fearing us. We're bad news."

"But I'm not like you. I wasn't raised by the queen. I don't have a lust for destruction and evil. I was raised and taught what's right!"

"Stop fooling yourself! You belong with the hive. The queen and the princess will not tolerate a changeling who acts like a… pony." He said 'pony' in such disgust. "You are coming back with me whether you want to or not!" The large changeling charged at me horn first.

I leapt up into the air, dodging his horn charge. I kept myself afloat with my changeling wings and quickly turned around towards the villain and spat a large ball of green goop at him. As my loogie was spat out, he quickly turned around and recovered from the charge and shot the loogie with some magic from his horn. The green slime exploded into little drops of goop.

The large changeling then charged at me again. He opened his wings up and took flight. He came at me, shooting more magic from his messed up horn. I dodged every single shot, thanking all that dodging practice I learned from playing dodge ball at school. But I was so focused on dodging his magic that I forgot to dodge HIM!

He punched me in the gut, hard. I coughed up some spit, leaning over the hoof that punched me. Then the big guy raised me up and threw me to the ground. I slammed into the ground, hard. I coughed up more spit. I think I saw a bit of red. I groaned in pain and tried to shake off my sudden dizziness. When it went away, I saw a large green dot get closer and closer to me. When I realized what it was, I quickly rolled out of the way.

Kaboom!

That crazy jerk just made a giant crater with that changeling tackle.

I tried to stand up after I rolled away, but I couldn't. I fell on one knee, hissing in pain. I felt this stinging pain on my back right leg. I looked at it and I saw blood dripping from it. I'm not going to lie, it hurt, a lot.

"Like it," I heard the big changeling say. "I call it the 'rhino's razor.' It's like a regular changeling charge, only the green energy is going at a different frequency. Think of the original version as a battering ram, and think of my version as a battering ram covered with samurai swords. If you come with me, I'll take care of that wound for you and maybe teach you that move."

I started to breathe more rapidly. I was a little bit scared that the bleeding wouldn't stop. But I wasn't going to go with him.

"I told you… I'm… staying here."

He got angrier by hearing my response. "You know, I could just forget about bringing you back home. Who's to say we have to tell the princess that we found you? Why don't I just kill you now and make you a thing of the past?"

More green energy started to surround the changeling. I can surround myself in the same energy too, but my energy always looks flat and round. His energy looks pointy and it's dancing around like crazy.

He yelled as he charged at me. There was no way I could dodge him again with this bleeding leg. I was a sitting duck. I closed my eyes and hoped that I wouldn't die from this.

Swoosh!

All of a sudden, I felt somepony sweep me off my feet. Though my eyes were closed, I could just feel the wind blowing in my face and trashy mane. When I opened my eyes again, I saw myself in the hooves of a mysterious pony covered in dark clothing.

* * *

Third Person POV

"I can NOT believe he ditched me like that," Rainbow Dash yelled to herself in the forest. "We don't see each other for years and what does he do first, he ditches me. Looks like he not only has to work on his shy habit, but also on his rudeness."

After reuniting with her long lost friend from Flight School, Hiro, Rainbow Dash thought that it would be awesome to go introduce him to Fluttershy. She knew that Fluttershy would be happy to see her old friend again. She thought that it would be a nice reunion for the three of them. Unfortunately, Hiro had to ruin everything by running off to who knows where without saying another word to Dash.

Rainbow Dash didn't realize that Hiro ditched her until halfway to Fluttershy's cottage. Now she was out in the forest trying to look for the little sneak.

"Geez, why would he run off like that," Rainbow asked herself. "Doesn't he want to meet Fluttershy again?

"Hey wait a second." Rainbow paused in mid flight as she talked to herself. "Why should I be looking for him? I should just let him frolic off into the forest and do what he wants. If he doesn't want to meet Fluttershy again then that's fine by me." Rainbow crossed her front hoofs and stuck her nose up, ending the argument in her head. Then she brought it up again about three seconds later. "No, no, I shouldn't do that," Rainbow Dash released her arms from the cross and put her nose back down. "I should go look for him… and give him a piece of my mind!"

After finishing her mind's debate, Rainbow had decided to continue her search for her long lost friend. Rainbow couldn't search from up in the sky due to the thick leaves that covered the forest. That gave her the only choice of searching on the ground. Rainbow was already mad about looking for Hiro, now she had something to build on it.

Suddenly, a loud zap could be heard echoing through the forest. Rainbow quickly turned around as the sound passed by her. Rainbow wasn't dumb; she knew something was going on in the forest. She did wonder however if it was Hiro who was responsible for it.

Another zap sound went by in the forest. Rainbow Dash tried to hear where the sound came from, but her ears weren't built like a changeling's.

However when the third zap came, she didn't need her ears to locate the source. Though the leaves threatened some of her sight, Rainbow Dash was still able to see the faint green energy pass by through the sky. Because of this stroke of luck, Rainbow was able to go the right direction. She went left, to where the green energy came from.

She flew through the forest, dodging countless low hanging branches. As the zap sounds got louder and louder, Rainbow started to travel hop hide with the bushes. Whoever this mysterious magic blaster was, Rainbow Dash knew she would gain the upper hand if she can just get a sneak attack in. Each bush she hid in, the zap sounds started to get louder and louder. Then, they stopped. More sounds could be heard, but they weren't the same zap sounds. They sounded as if somepony was talking. But being too far away, Rainbow couldn't make out what they were saying exactly. Then there was some buzzing. Then, nothing.

As Rainbow reached the next bush, she could now see who was responsible for the blasts of green magic.

Or at least, she could see who she thought was responsible for the green magic blasts.

The pony had his back turned. He wore mostly black and grey clothing, reminding Dash of Hiro's black hoodie and pants. But the clothing on him looked kind of exotic. In front of him, in his hooves, was something unknown.

Rainbow Dash tried to get a closer look. She could see that on the left end was something green. And on the other end was… a pink mane. A very recognizable pink mane.

Rainbow couldn't believe her eyes. Could that be…

"Hey you!" Rainbow Dash leapt out of her hiding bush and called out to the mysterious cloaked pony.

The pony quickly turned around and saw the cyan rainbow haired pegasus staring daggers at him.

Now that he was turned around, Rainbow's suspicions have been confirmed. Carried in his hooves was a wrapped up, unconscious, Fluttershy. This caused Rainbow to gasp in shock and blow smoke from her nostrils.

"Hey punk," she insulted, "what do you think you're doing with her?"

The cloaked pony just stood there, silent. Though Rainbow couldn't see or notice, the cloaked pony held even tighter to the kidnapped Fluttershy. It was a good thing his face was so well hidden, because he didn't want Rainbow to see the nervous look on it.

"Listen up weirdo," Rainbow ranted on, "you have three seconds to give me the girl otherwise I'll take her back by force."

The pony still stayed silent. This caused irritation to hit Rainbow Dash. "Hey, you gonna speak up or what?"

Suddenly, the pony pulled out a kunai from underneath his robe. Fear struck Rainbow Dash as she saw the knife reveal itself. Her first thought was that the cloaked pony was going to kill Fluttershy right then and there. This thought caused Rainbow to think twice about charging at him. She knew she was fast, but she couldn't gamble Fluttershy's life like that.

The cloaked pony was quick to act. He slid that kunai right down the green cocoon that ensnared Fluttershy. The shell was finally broken, and Fluttershy was finally free from its grasp. Her tail flew down, finally getting some air after being encased in the shell. You could see a small frown on Fluttershy's face. She was however still unconscious.

Rainbow was a little surprised at what the mystery pony did. She did after all think of him as a kidnapper. But then she had another thought. She thought that now that he was caught red hoofed with Fluttershy, he was just cutting his loses. That's why he freed her.

The cloaked pony slowly placed Fluttershy on the grass, even brushing her pink mane from her sleeping face.

Then the pony spoke to Rainbow Dash for the first time. "Take her." And then he ran off into the forest.

"Hey you! Wait!" That was all Rainbow could think of doing right now. She could chase after the guy and teach him a lesson, but what about Fluttershy? She couldn't just leave her here in the forest all alone after what just happened.

Rainbow Dash sighed.

"Just you wait weirdo," Rainbow said out loud. "Next time, you won't get off so easy."

With that said and done, Rainbow Dash picked her friend up from the grass and tossed her on her back. Then she flew off to the Ponyville Hospital.

It was a safety precaution for Dash. She didn't know if the guy did anything to her. She hoped he didn't. Fluttershy is the last pony that should have this happen to her.

* * *

_On the next chapter:_

_ It was a pain getting all the way back home. There was no way I could get that claw out of my body. I need to go to the hospital and get a doctor to do this._

_ When I got home, I made sure to put on some clothes that would hide my cutie mark and wings. It was a pain putting on the clothes with a stinging wound, but I managed. I made sure to cut the sweater with my sword to where the wound was so that I can avoid a hard to answer question. I cut my hoof slightly with my sword and wiped the blood around my clothes to add on to the visual effect. With a new pair of clothes on, I started to walk (more like shuffle) towards town. I was just glad that the bleeding stopped; otherwise this walk would've been much more difficult._

_ When I reached the town, I looked around to see if anypony could see me. There were only a few ponies out, but all I really needed was just one for this. I clutched onto my wound and fell down. I laid there, waiting to see if anypony will take me to the hospital._

_ "Oh my word! Somepony, please get help! Don't worry sir, help is on the way. Just hang in there."_

* * *

**As you just saw, some chapters will involve other characters besides the main three. Smoke will probably be in every single one of these. Soon, they'll even be a chapter like chapter 4 where some of these characters have dreams about their pasts.**


End file.
